


Truth or Dare

by fandomgeek2_0



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blackmail, Gay Keith (Voltron), I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Recreational Drug Use, Relationship Problems, Sex, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2019-07-18 15:38:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16121552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomgeek2_0/pseuds/fandomgeek2_0
Summary: A week, surely two people can handle one week together, right?||○●○||Lance and Keith were paired together for a weeklong Home Ec. final where they have to pretend to be a married couple. Not only are they the only same-gendered couple, but they are probably also the worst seeming match ever made. They begin a long game of Truth or dare to get through the week. A game that brings them closer than they could've ever imagined, making them open up and reveal themselves in full to eachother. Is a week all it takes to repair a broken friendship, or even bring to light something new?





	1. Chapter 1

A week, surely two people could handle a week together. It wasn’t like they were still enemies. Lance paired with Keith, living with one another for a full 7 days, and if they worked together, an easy A. Of course Lance happened to be paired with Keith, they didn’t have any friends in the class, and seemed to always be last on Mrs. Hollie’s list. It was going to be a long week.

“So Keith, where should we stay this week?” Lance asked, combing his hair back with his fingers as they walked out of the class.

“Your place.” Keith answered firmly. At the least, Lance thought, Keith knew what he wanted.

“Alright then. Do you mind walking home? My sister, Veronica, took my car out for the day.” Lance’s voice seemed shaky and uncertain, his thoughts racing on the week to come. How would his siblings react to Lance bringing home a boy for the week?

Keith nodded as an answer, not very much a helpful one, but still an answer at the least.

The walk home felt long and quiet, their conversation not moving much more than a talk on their tasks for the week. Lance’s uncertainty seemed to spill out of him as they walked, Keith easily picking up on the screaming feeling. How was Keith supposed to explain why he wasn’t going to go back there for more than clothes the whole week? There would at least be the ease of going back for some clothes. The only break he would expect would be that and when he was forced to go back by his caretakers. Keith knew that no matter what, he was on strict ropes at his house, with his interesting past. 

“I’m just going to run home and grab some clothes.” Keith mumbled.

Lance smiled softly, “Go ahead! You need clothes, Keith.” he laughed gently.

Keith made a quick trail away from Lance and back to his place to grab a few day’s worth of clothes, quickly joining back up. He wasn’t sure what to tell Lance, but he was on a time constraint. Whatever the solution may be, he braced himself for a failing grade, much to his own discomfort.

While the walk was slow and quiet, Lance’s mind played with many ideas. One of the ideas being, their sleeping arrangements. Keith had yet to meet Lance’s family too, and it happened to be one of the days when his eldest sister and her kids and husband would pop by for a family dinner visit. Lance quietly stood in front of his house, the white arches seemingly looked less inviting as he thought up a way to brace Keith for the things to come. 

“So, Keith, I have a few siblings… I think Keshia might be having a sleepover with her friend tonight, though. Luis is still out camping with Tio Juan, but he’ll be back tomorrow. And of course Veronica is out with the car tonight, likely going to her boyfriend’s house and won’t be back for a while…” Lance said, his hand automatically combing through the top of his hair, awaiting Keith’s response. One night without all the kids, maybe it’s be a good transition, maybe.

“Wow, you have a lot of siblings, huh?” Keith gave a cock of his head and looked at Lance.

“Yeah, I guess...” shrugging he realized he never really thought of that. It wasn’t like he had 10 siblings and they all had to share this 5 bedroom house with a nicely done basement. 

Keith smiled, “Must be nice.”

Lance nodded and swung the pale door open, a large entryway greeting the boys. Keith stepped inside, Lance following swiftly after. The grand staircase loomed to their left, a huge dining table and a kitchen to their right. They could see the people moving around in the kitchen, a small tanned boy who resembled closely to Lance, bounding up to them, a huge smile on his young, round face. 

“Hey, Mateo!” Lance smiled, giving the young boy a bright smile. “Mateo meet Keith!” he beamed again.

Keith waved his hand. “Hey.” his voice was still and cool.

“Hi, Keith!” said Mateo, matching his brother’s excitement and brightness. “Lance, will Keith stay for dinner? Mama said that you had to bring a wife home!” Lance leaned back and gave a hearty laugh.

“Keith is here to help me with a project, he will be my wife for a week!” Lance looked over at Keith, noticing the paled face had a pinker tint to it, though to be fair, the house was fairly warm. The other male was wearing long black pants and a heavy red jacket, not to mention a nice red flannel hidden underneath. Keith’s layers were like the layers to a nesting doll.It wasn't even winter yet and the boy had probably 3 different articles on just his torso alone.

Mateo laughed and dragged the boys hastily into the kitchen, where Keith was greeted by the rest of the family members home. Lance’s mom smiled at Keith as she slaved over a pot, cooking something that smelled spicy and hearty. Then, a curvy and stout woman, presumably another sister, came up to greet Lance quickly walking away. She was a few inches shorter than Lance, likely one of the shorter people of their family, as Lance stood tallest out of his family. His father was assumably tall, though Keith had not much of any idea since he sat at the head of the table the whole time he had spent so far. 

“Who's this boy, Lance?” his mother asked, rubbing a new dish clean.

“He’s Keith, Mama. Can he stay the night?” his head tilted, a smile on his lips. 

“Yes honey, I'm glad it's a boy this time!” She smiled at Keith sweetly, her eyes sparkling under a giant wavy mass of beautiful chocolate hair.

“For the whole week?” Lance rubbed the back of his head nervously, knowing it was such an odd request. Keith’s gaze shifted to Lance's mother and to Lance once more, awaiting the answer nervously. 

“Of course bebé!” She smiled warmly, her face just so happy.

“Ahh, thank you Mrs. McClain.” Keith said hesitantly.

“Sweetie, just call me Mama!” there was a hint of an accent in the name. It wasn’t toned flat, but seemed instead vibrant and full.

“Then, thank you…” Keith hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Mama McClain.”

She laughed and smiled, she then placed the plate in her hands down and held her arms out, waiting for a hug. Lance gently took Keith's hand, a sudden wave of heat and a warm feeling rushing through Keith as he was pulled towards Lance's mother. The two boys were squeezed tightly together, the flustered Keith pulling slightly from the hug at first chance. 

“Thank you, Mama, it's for a project anyways.” her glow fell slightly, but her loving smile remained.

“That's good, now go sit at the table and have your friend meet the family!” She urged, pushing Lance to the table.

Keith was easily pulled after as their hands had yet to untangle during the hug, and the touch remained. 

“Okay Keith, meet my Papa!” Lance then gestured to the man Keith earlier identified as his father, then pulled another young girl, slightly smaller than Lance. “This is Keisha, my twin sister.” Keith's hand was let go and Lance smiled widely.

“I'm the one who’s eight minutes older,” She smirked, her large, colorful waves bouncing about her head. “Don’t let him fool you.” She stood defiantly, pointing her finger at Lance and stomping her foot down to make a quiet clack. Keith gave a small laugh as Lance started chuckling. She pushed him lightly, her little jean skirt moving up and her fuzzy sweater falling over the low waist.

“I’m still taller than you, so ha.” Lance's blue eyes sparkled in the light as her sister refused the fact she was still a few inches off from the height of her brother. Their smiles were surely similar, although they each had a certain friendly glow to each.

“Don’t mind them,” the oldest presumed sister said to Keith from beside Keisha. “I’m Mariana, Lance’s older sister. Mateo and Leslie are my kids, and Marco,” the large man sitting beside her waved, “Is my husband.” she smiled, and Lance turned his head just in time to see the shaky smile that Keith gave in return.

It was uncertain how Lance felt, having held Keith's hand for so long. There was something new in the touch, nothing like anyone else he had been with before. It was new, but it was true. It wasn't like Keith could be treated like a one night fling. Lance had to see Keith for the next week and treat him as a husband. The only question was, why were they the only same-sex couple?

||○●○||

The dinner had gone quietly, Keith was able to taste a bit of Lance's everyday life. It was odd how he almost envied the community that was this family, and how their love for one another poured out. Lance had introduced most of his family to Keith, though lines still seemed blurred as a few were absent. Dinner had wrapped up with Lance dragging Keith down a large flight of stairs into his room so they could discuss the project.

“So… what should we do first as a married couple?” Keith's voice was soft and still as his gaze wandered through the room. 

The walls stood a steel blue-grey, a white framed bed sitting under a low set photo of a window looking out. The “window” had blue curtains draped over, slightly off from the more purple hued bedspread. The whole room had the cool touch, a mix of greys, whites, and blues filling the scene with hints of purple here and there. It was easily decorated, though the bed was barely made, but there all the less. The floor had different piles of things, the overall room was messy and seemed disorganized. As Keith’s eyes wandered around the room, he realized this was the basement made into a makeshift room for the teenage boy. In the far back corner, closer to where they entered stood two tan doors. Both doors were swung open, behind one was a clean and neat white and blue bathroom. The bathroom had a small fake plant in one corner and a blue square rose rug on the white concrete floor. Behind the other door was what looked to be a study room, though the view was obstructed by a couch. 

“Groceries.” Lance said mundanely, sitting on his bed and lying back into the sheets.

“Groceries?” Keith crossed his arms, at loss of what to do. He was still standing in the middle of the room, considering taking a seat in the low set blue cushioned fold up chair near the bed.

“Yeah. We have a list. And plus, my family needs basically everything on it for the week, so why not?” Lance turned to Keith, smiling wide. 

Keith nodded in understanding. “That sounds just fine, let's head out.” 

Lance stood up and held a hand out to Keith. He took Lance’s hand and popped up, falling accidentally into his warm chest. Lance was holding back a mad blush when Keith fell into his chest, his heart pounding heavily. The fear of Keith hearing helped him none as he was so close. Lance took a deep breath in the scent of Keith wafting up and into his nose. Keith smelled like a nice day in a forest, serene and simple.

Keith all but buried his blushing face into Lance’s chest, trying to hide the heat that had risen in his face from his fall. As his face was shoved into Lance’s chest, he caught the scent of lemons and oranges, mixed with a little peppermint. Lance certainly had a unique mix of scents. To be honest, how whole room shared the citrus-peppermint vibe. How long is too long to be clutching desperately on a straight man? Whatever the answer, Keith assumed it was well-past and tried rolling back smoothly onto his feet. As Keith balanced himself again, Lance quickly took Keith's hand again, making sure to lead the safe path around. The two boys headed upstairs to be greeted by Mateo and Leslie, grinning like little devils with a plan.

“Hi, Tio Keith!” the two kids yelled in synch before running off, leaving a confused Keith standing by Lance who seemed not-too-happy about what they had said.

Lance couldn't quite wrap his mind around what the two little kids said, his face a hot red and heart swelling inside. He was a mess, but he couldn't be, not now. Yet he still was. When he brought his gaze around, he saw his Mama in the corner giving him a small smirk as though she knew something he didn't. Keith, on the other hand, had a look of pure confusion and anger about his face. Whatever was said seemed to sign a death sentence for the two kids. That is, if they had said any kind of insult at Keith. As if it were something normal, Lance instinctively squeezed Keith’s hand, the boy quickly climbing down from his angered state. There was no time to question what he was doing, but somehow, Lance had calmed down the hot-headed boy. The thought ran on in his mind, and he let it.

Keith, no matter what was that weird-but-really-calming hand squeeze, wondered what Mateo and Leslie had called him. It was enough to make Lance turn red, but he hadn’t the slightest inclination as to what it could have been. Keith's mind ran a mile a minute as he contemplated his next action, though a small wave of comfort slipped quickly through his body, like water flowing through a fire. The heat melting away. Starting at one hand and flowing quickly through, his mind and body winding back and a newfound clarity guiding his thoughts. It was like a spell had been cast on him, but nonetheless there was no magic. It was only just a boy on his right who was still holding his hand. Stress was still pulling at Keith, slight discomfort and awkwardness playing a large role in him as the reality of his situation sunk in. He was at Lance’s house, with Lance’s family, and he–Keith–had to stay there for the whole week, minus the single day he planned to run back home to explain his absence before running off for the rest of the week. 

“Come on, Keith. Let's get groceries…” a still slightly rosy Lance spoke, his voice signaling to his slight confusion at what had just happened. 

Whatever it was, it did happen, and there was no way of ignoring it. Something about Keith seemed to settle just right to Lance. Defiant, definitely defiant.

||○●○||

The two boys had already begun the journey to the store to pick groceries up. Lance quickly patted all his pockets, making an extra emphasis around his ass.

“The fuck, Lance?” Keith's face warped to a look of confusion, led by not having a single clue what Lance was doing at this point.

“List, where's the grocery list?” Lance's face dropped when he gave up on his pockets, now patting his entire body down looking for this strip of paper and pen that he could be sworn had been attached to his body when he left the house. 

“Don't tell me you forgot it,” Lance gave a look of despair as he nodded to the pale emo. “I swear if you make us go back... we are almost at the store!” 

“And we have to go back for it, unless you were smarter and did something?” Keith grumbled a bit and swung his phone out of his jacket, a small clink made from it as it exited. 

“I took a picture because I had a feeling you might just do something idiotic like forgetting it.” Keith unlocked the old phone, clicking about until he reached the picture and showed Lance. 

Lance squinted at Keith's screen, attempting to see the picture through the cracked glass that was coated in a layer of something that blurred the image. Lance quickly tapped a few things on Keith's phone, sending the image to himself. He flipped the lid closed, his own phone buzzing from deep in his pocket. Lance pulled it out, a fairly decent image of their list flashing across his clean screen. A heavy contrast was visible between the two phones, especially the fact Keith had a flip phone while Lance sported an iPhone 6+, still a hand-me-down from his second oldest sister, but fairly unused.

“Why is your phone so filthy, dude?” Lance asked as he wiped his finger on his shirt, the residue from the phone, visible. It was a dramatic reaction to touching the dirty phone, but Lance was a generally dramatic person.

“It’s like a… fifth generation hand-me-down or something.” Keith responded, unfazed, as he put his phone back in his pocket. Lance gave him another very curious look, but didn’t comment on it. Then, the silence began and the conversation died again.

Lance struggled, the silence daunting over him. The conversation felt like a beautiful soft lemon cookie from Mama dangling in front of his face by a stick. That was just it: something could pull them into anything and nothing seemed to happen. Silence wasn't a good thing for Lance, neither something was terribly wrong or nobody was home, though more often than not it was the worse of the two. Pure hot impulse flooded into him, moving to his mouth before he could comprehend his actions.

“Truth or dare?” Lance looked to the ground as he shoveled back a deep heat trying to burn in his cheeks from embarrassment.

“What? Where'd that come from?” Keith spoke quickly, not giving Lance any time to give an answer before speaking again. “Fine, truth.”

Lance was shocked for a moment, but it was yet another thing to let Keith not see. He just tried to give Keith the feeling that he had planned it out before speaking. “Alright, do you do any drugs?” 

Keith let out a small snort at Lance’s question. “Why doesn't that surprise me? Everyone has to ask. If I have to be honest, which I assume I have to be, I do pretty much anything that’s passed my way.” Keith smiled and laughed again, which made Lance's heart skip a beat. A leaf had fallen on his shoulder in that exact moment–a minor coincidence really–that Keith would laugh right as a leaf were to fall on his shoulder. All managing to be followed with the skip of a beat from his heart. Out of the options, Lance deemed it ought to be the leaf and not the sweet golden chime laugh of Keith that still rang beautifully in his mind.

“Oh, cool!” The conversation stall had begun to end. Now it was Keith’s turn to ask. Maybe this could be fun after all.

“Truth or dare Lance.” Keith's voice spoke in a flat tone, a hesitant wave of something floating behind. Lance wasn't sure what it could be but he could only wonder.

“Dare.” Lance answered, feeling like if he did something, anything to move his mind to another subject, he'd be fine. 

“Hm…” Keith thought for a moment, brushing his bangs out of the way and crouching to the ground to grab a leaf. It was, in fact, the very leaf that had fallen on Lance's shoulder. When had they stopped walking? His mind raced with the question, though that wasn't important now. There was another matter at hand. “Eat this leaf.” 

Lance let out his own laugh. The sound was sweet and melodic, like the plucking of harp strings deep inside of Keith's heart. It was just the perfect ring to add a rush of something to pair with such a cool breeze. 

Lance took the leaf from Keith's hand and inspected it. It was shiny green and looked fairly clean for a leaf to Lance. He nodded, hoping it wouldn't taste that bad or surprise him with some bug. Just a whole natural leaf. A large, large leaf, to stuff in his mouth. He gave Keith a ‘help me’ glance and rolled it up. His fingers worked from muscle memory, despite not being as wide and much longer than it had to be. Why did he agree to this again? It was too late now. He slowly slid the rolled leaf into his mouth, folding the bottom half to get it all in and make sure it met whatever requirements Keith so wished for.

It was the way it slid in between those tanned lips. The way the shiny side was glowing and placed on the outside of the roll. How Lance's fingers rolled so delicately and without any effort. Oh and when it went in, something really did a number on Keith's brain. Maybe there was something that Lance slipped into his food at lunch but holy fuck, it did something. Lance looked like he didn't do much in the way of placing things deep in his mouth, but he tried. It was all ruined when the leaf came out of his mouth a shiny, slightly wet blob, saliva coating it and being spat everywhere else too.

“Fuck you, Keith. My mouth tastes like leaf!” Lance let out a soft laugh and spoke again. “Truth or dare?” The look on Lance's face said so much to Keith. It was high and defiant, something like what a little kid would do when trying to prove their way. 

“Dare, but, come on. Leaf can't be that bad of a taste.” Keith laughed, biting back a small insult from his still-snarky comment. 

“Then taste it yourself!” Lance gave a small chuckle. “And let's say, we get one veto a day to use on dares.” 

“How could I taste it myself? I'm not putting another leaf into my mouth.” Keith's smile, mixed with some softening inside of Lance. Lance could've sworn there was something on that leaf.

“Kiss me then. Taste my saliva.” Lance's comment hung thickly, regret soon building in his body as he realized his words.

Another stall, more silence. Keith's face reddened deeply, images playing of kissing Lance ringing loud and clear in his mind. Keith fought a smile, cursing himself for even thinking such an idea, even if it was Lance who suggested it. Keith kept walking on, his eyes cast to his dulled red converse. There was no way Lance could see him blush, especially at something like that. A part of him begged to scream yes right back, and yet there was the blazing part of not wanting to at all. He didn't want to cross a certain line, and that was toeing the line at that moment. 

After what felt like ages, even if it was just a few seconds, Lance broke the quiet. “I dare you to…” he paused and pondered his next move carefully before finishing, “ to give the next car the middle finger.” 

“I'd do that anyways?” Keith let the feeling that filled his heart drop, now a sense of teasing and lightness in his tone. 

Keith lifted his gaze to the street, his feet landing gently one after another. A shiny black car that was blaring loud rap music came up with a group of boys shouting from within. Perfect. 

The car crept to the light, forced to come to a halt and giving a perfect opportunity to complete the dare. “Fuck you!” Keith's voice rang out, both his middle fingers up, hands positioned to make it noticeable.

“Fuck you too, bruh!” someone yelled from the car, and a large outburst of laughter roared from inside. Keith smiled again, knowing that the whole situation went over fairly well as the car drove back off.

“Wow, nice!” Lance smiled, his heart beating heavily. It had to be because of those people in the car.They were driving too fast. 

“Alright, truth or dare?” Keith slowed his steps to let Lance catch up. Lance's legs were long, at least compared to Keith's. Sure Keith was kinda short, but not absurdly. Still, the long strides Lance took naturally brought him up quickly, the two walking side by side yet again.

“Truth.” Lance's step took a move to the side, an accidental bump with Keith. His skin felt warm where it had touched Keith. He was likely way to warm, and that was all. 

Just then, a girl near their age wearing a floral yellow sundress with reddish pigtails like waterfalls flowed down her shoulders as she walked by. Lance couldn't resist moving towards her. “Hey, I'm Lance. Haven't seen you around before.” He threw in a cocky smile, making her blush like mad.

The deep red blush stood out against her pale freckled cheeks as she spoke. “I-I’m Kai. You might not have seen me, but I've seen you around school before!” She smiled, her hand reaching to play with a reddish-orange pigtail. 

“Oh really? You should say hi to me next time,” Another smile, and a hand on the shoulder. “You're absolutely adorable, Kai.” He moved his thumb back towards his hand, yet another gesture that sent her over the edge, blushing even worse. 

She threw a flustered ‘okay’ to Lance before cutely prancing away. Keith felt a bubbling feeling of jealousy and anger flow through him as she walked off. How could Lance do this right in front of him? Lance was a player, just another reason to not like him.

“How many girls have you been with?” Keith kept walking, eye contact now unavailable, if it ever was. 

“Sexually?” Keith nodded prompting Lance to begin counting his fingers, murmuring countless names inaudibly. “I think… 17?” Lance's voice raised to a question as he said the number. Not a definitive answer, but at least an estimate.

“Wow, that's a lot of girls. You must be quite the womanizer.” Keith's heart fell slightly at the vast number, wondering if there were any more in the male side.

“Eh… well truth or dare, Keith?” Lance's voice sparked at the opportunity to change the subject.

“Truth.” 

“Tell me about your family.” Lance's statement was plain and simple, though Keith found it hard to come up with some excuse to not have to say.

“Veto. I'm not going to talk.” Lance gave a hearty chuckle at Keith.

“No refusing a truth, only dares, and one daily!” Fuck Lance. Fuck him to Mars and back. 

“No, it’s not happening.” Keith stopped walking, stone still in what only could be called defiance. 

“You have to answer, Keith! It’s the basic rules of truth or dare, dude.” Lance was still walking, not noticing that Keith had stopped yet.

“Don’t have one. There, happy?” Keith bit the inside of his lip, glaring down at the ground as the words left their lingering cut in the air. 

“Oh… I'm, I’m sorry I asked.” Lance stopped too, regret filling his body as he brought his gaze back to Keith. 

“Just, truth or dare?” Keith growled out as he walked a few steps to get where Lance was standing.

“Truth, again.” However, Lance took Keith’s movements as beginning to walk again, so he started up his own steps. Keith didn’t mind much, because it let him not have to face Lance.

“What is the weirdest thing that your family has done?” A lighter note easily accomplished. Hopefully.

“There was one time where Mama was making some baked goods for the school bake sale in 3rd grade. Mariana decided to try her hand at adding ingredients, though she didn't have her glasses yet and had mistaken vanilla for our homemade pico de gallo and dumped it in. The cookies would still have been terrible if it was the vanilla, but the pico added an extra,” he paused, looking for the right word, “flavor to the mix.” Lance laughed a contagious laugh, Keith joining in though mostly compelled by Lance's laughter.

“Did they sell much?”

“No, not really. Mama forced us to each eat one, afterwards they were thrown out. At least Mariana tried, right?” Another beautiful laugh from Lance, another feeling from Keith. “Well, truth or dare Keith, pick your poison.” 

“And yet another truth shall be chosen.” Keith sighed with a small laugh, leaning towards Lance absentmindedly.

“Hm, what about you, how many partners have you had?” Keith blushed. “No refusing a truth, remember!” Lance daunted over Keith.

“Fine... “ He then mumbled something barely audible.

“One more time so I can hear!” Lance smiled.

“Four.” Keith barely muttered out. 

“Wow, who?” Lance's head cocked to the side, curiosity flowing through his eyes. 

“Won't tell. It's not a truth; I can still refuse.” Keith's arms crossed, Lance throwing the puppy dog eyes. “Truth or dare, loverboy?”

“Dare.”

“You really threw me off there! I had a whole terrible truth lined up for you. You just ruined it.” Keith bumped Lance's arm playfully.

After a few more moments of silence Lance spoke. “Just come up with something! If you can't I'll find something ridiculous on Tumblr.” He shrugged, a look of impatience on his face.

“Wait, you mean to tell me you, Lance McClain, have a Tumblr?” 

“Yeah, well, it's not as bad as you might've heard…” Lance said, tossing his phone from one hand to another.

“I know. I have a Tumblr too.” With that, Lance was lost. It seemed pretty typical if Keith were to have one, sure. But with his crap phone and terrible screen, it had to be a lie. Could a flip phone even get Tumblr? Wasn’t Tumblr only an app?

“Tell me what it is!” Lance said loudly as he stopped his phone-toss and began to open it up. Halfway through pulling up Tumblr Keith spoke.

“I won't tell you that either! Now I dare you to swing from that tree.” Keith made his attempts at bringing the attention away, though Lance's mind played otherwise.

“Nope! I'd hang from a pole, but I won't swing from a tree,” Lance smiled. “Now truth or dare?” the smile had a sly edge to it, one that wasn't commonly found on Lance.

“Truth.” Fuck, Keith's mind barely registered his mistake, he can't refuse a truth. So here he was, screwed over by none other than himself, yet again.

“What's your Tumblr username?” Lance smiled.

“Whothefuckownsadagger. Just one word.” Keith let out a sigh, already given up. 

Lance took a second to type it into his phone and smiled. “I will definitely remember that!” 

“Alright, so truth or dare, tell me your user on tumblr?” Perfect, either way Lance had no way to back out.

“Fine, loverr-boi…” he trailed, the cheesiness of his own title reigning high on him. 

“How the fuck is that even spelled?” Keith asked as he got out his very old, very dirty flip phone.

“With two ‘r’s, a dash in the middle, then boi with an ‘i.’” Lance offered the information willingly. It didn’t really matter anyway, considering that he was going to stalk Keith’s Tumblr the next time he got the chance. That would include following it, which would have outed himself anyway.

Keith let out an actual giggle at the name. “Alright then, loverboy.” He smiled and Lance nudged his side with a playful grin. 

“Truth or dare?” Lance asked with a sigh, moving their conversation along. 

“Give me… dare.” Keith smirked.

“Fuck a pole.” Lance joked, laughing softly at the thought.

“How Lance, how do you propose I fuck a pole? Should I climb up it and put it in my ass?” Lance laughed a bit, then began to think of how that would be possible.

“You could try that… maybe you just, maybe you should just wrap around the pole and hold yourself up.” Keith nodded.

“Easy enough.” he shrugged. They kept walking, a tall green pole stood in front of them. The base had some fancy decoration and the top had a yellow light with neat green metalwork.

“There is your chance, Keith!” Lance smiled, gently pushing Keith closer to the pole.

Keith smiled as Lance walked on to turn and watch Keith. Keith hopped up and wrapped his legs around the pole, using his arms to pull him up. He sat there with his legs crossed nicely, supporting most of his weight. There was a wild smirk on his face as he laid back a little, staying up. Lance's gaze barely lifted from Keith, who seemed to enjoy being on the pole. The only thing that pulled Lance away was a car that zoomed past with a small honk and a mumbled yell.

“Keith, wave at the next person to come by!” Lance suggested, smiling and laughing a little. Keith wiggled his little red converse-coated feet and smiled.

A car started to drive by and Keith waved, sticking out his tongue a bit with a smile. He was unbearably cute on that pole. He seemed so happy, it was mesmerizing to Lance just how happy Keith seemed. 

Lance watched Keith slide back down, grin wide on his face. Lance laughed a little, his face heated and heart beating heavily through his chest. He did admit to himself, Keith was cute with a smile. The sad but true fact though, was they had reached their final destination. They were at the grocery store, finally.

“How long was that walk, Lance?” Keith asked with a cock of his head. 

Lance checked the clock on his phone and calculated for a moment. “Only 15ish minutes.” He guessed with a shrug. Time to buy groceries.

||○●○||

They entered the store, a cool rush of air smacking them harshly. Lance took a deep breath of the air as they stepped in. He had been there so many times, but it seemed to be some melting pot for a million different things, his attention drawn every which way but south. Keith had stepped cautiously; he hadn't ever gone to that Safeway and it showed. His anxieties got riled up, his first instinct acting up as he moved slightly behind Lance. Lance felt his back warm up as Keith pressed into him some, it was pleasant to be fully honest. 

“What do we need, Keith?” Lance forced his attention Keith's way.

Keith pulled out his phone, fiddling with the broken keyboard as he struggled to look over the screen. Lance sighed, took out his own phone, opened it with his thumbprint, and handed it over. Keith's eyes widened at the quality of the picture on the screen and the very nice phone it was. 

“Some kind of veggie mix, some fruits, we need breakfast supplies, and meals for the week.” Keith listed off.

“What about you read off what it is we need, and I find it?” Lance asked softly, his mind now trying to listen to the song in the store. Hallucinating by Elohim was playing, his hips bopping a little with the funky tune.

“Alright Lance, whatever you say. You are my husband for the week anyways.” Keith gave a small sigh in a chuckle. 

The boys went back and forth in no particular pattern around the store, grabbing whatever they decided they needed in the area. Lance made them get stuff for some egg breakfast dish his Mama requested to make at some point in the week. All the groceries were gathered, bought, and thrown hastily into the cheap choice of thin plastic bags. They had tried to cut costs as much as they could, as every couple in the class was given a $300 budget for the week. It was some kind of budgeting exercise where every expense they made would have to dip further into the cash. Parents were in on the project too–parents were the reason each group had a budget–and the reason everyone had to go out on a date once in the week. Of course, make time for love as well as everything else, even if there wasn't any love. 

When Keith and Lance stepped out of the store Keith pondered aloud. “I wonder just how many couples are going to have sex because of this project? Because didn't Mrs. Hollie pair students up based on their relationships and compatibility?” Lance jumped at the sudden conversation, though not mad they had something to talk about.

“Well, I mean, there's probably a ton of them. At least one couple will get pregnant and at one will get some disease, I bet. At the very least we don’t have to worry about that anyways.” Lance laughed a bit, the realization that he was a part of the only same-sex couple. The only one.

Keith gave a small laugh; it was the main thing to happen. A bunch of teenagers paired together? Of course they will have sex at some point in the week.There was nothing between him and his partner, so no worries, right? At least there was nothing anyone would admit. “Yeah, true. You aren’t going to have to talk to Mama McClain about something like that after this. You know what, we should make that a bet, and see how many people get diseases then.” 

“I don't think people will really say it if it happens,” Lance laughed. “They will probably take a break from school for a bit and send their kid to an orphanage. Oh talking about orphanages-!” Lance swung one of the bags in his hand down his arm to point up, looking like an over exaggerated cartoon character. 

Keith felt his mood shift at the mention of an orphanage, his mind pulling off into thought.

“There's a book I'm going to make you read, there's magic, moody teenagers, cussing, and an orphan kid!” Lance smiled.

“Is it, Harry Potter? I've never had much of an interest in that series.” He half-joked. He wasn't really able to read the books, as his only chance was the school library. He never could carry anything extra back with him anyway. Not to mention the younger kids would ruin the book if they found it unprotected. 

“No, well, a bit like it. If Harry Potter were in modern times and a little older than us. Gayer too.” He smiled wide, like he knew something in it that would catch Keith's interest.

“I may as well read it when we get back.” Keith sighed with a smile. Maybe, just maybe Keith would be able to survive the week. A week with Lance McClain, what could go wrong now?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, mature chapter ahead. Probably very gay. Recreational drug use, and likely nudity. I'd recommend not reading if you don't like. Hope you enjoy this chapter while I'm a bit of a sleepy mess.

Warm, Keith was finally warm. He didn’t feel the need for three plus layers, and he definitely didn’t feel the need to hide. But only when he was with Lance. Only with Lance could he feel this way. Keith was so comfortable, sitting in Lance's room as Lance took a shower in the next room. Not even a full 24 hours had passed and Keith made himself at home. Not even 24 hours and Lance was thinking to take a shower. How had they become like some old, docile married couples not even 24 hours into their fake marriage? And how the hell were they still playing that stupid game of truth or dare?

Lance sat down in the tub, the warm water falling over his back. He didn't even take showers on Thursdays, usually his laundry would be going instead. Having Keith seemed to put him off, he could barely find the right things to talk about. Even during Truth or Dare, Lance seemed to find a way to always screw that up. Where would Keith sleep? In his bed? On the floor? Heaven forbid he tried to sleep on the couch without any blankets under him. Lance had thought about this enough. He had always thought Keith would sleep on his bed with him. But reality can crash on in. 

Lance pulled away from his mind and stood again, grabbing a few squirts of his soap and spreading it on his skin. As he finished his shower, he wrapped his large blue towel around his waist. He had always gotten comments about how impossible it was a towel of that size never dragged when it was wrapped around his waist. Mama would always say it's his long legs he got from her brother. He never was able to meet his mom's brother, but he couldn't mind much. Especially now. Now was not a good time to mind, with someone in front of him sprawled oddly on the couch.

“Do you actually sit like that?” Lance asked with a cock of his head, one of his hands moving his hair to maybe get a better look at Keith's pale legs.

“Yeah, got a fucking problem? It’s not like you’re any better.” Keith practically growled at Lance. 

Lance was stricken with… shock? Something like that at the least. Keith's face held an angered smirk, as he was wearing some old shorts and likely the smallest shreds of an old baggy shirt. One of Keith’s legs was hung on the back of the couch, ankle on the top of the cushion and the knee was down and leaning on his other knee. His left foot barely covered where his bottom was, his knee tilted towards his right knee. It was probably one of the most uncomfortable looking positions. It was a wonder why Keith wasn’t in pain. 

“When I do that, I’m just showing you what I’ve got. You, you have to be high or something…” Lance trailed, trying to think of why turning yourself into a pretzel would be comfortable.

“How the fuck would I be high when I've been at your house all day?” Keith clearly growled at Lance's previous words. 

“Not high, okay.” Lance tried to cool the situation as he moved to grab some pants and an old shirt for pajamas. 

“I mean, I wouldn't mind being though…” Keith's voice softened and trailed.

Lance stood still, trying to process the words he heard. Keith wanted to get high. With him. Oh how this was some turn of events. Never did Lance think that Keith would ever want this even after a year spent being ignored to be ignored while Keith sat next to him for the past two months. Who knew, maybe during a lucky dare, Lance could finally do something he planned to do with Allura before he found out she didn't do anything like that. 

“Truth or dare?” Lance asked.

Keith hesitated for a moment before speaking softly. “Truth?”

“Do you want to get high right now?”

“Yes…?” Keith said in a small voice. 

Lance smiled, the news an interesting thing to him. “Great!” 

“Truth or dare, Lance.” Keith sighed. 

Lance was already off, casually throwing his pajamas on behind the couch. “Dare. I’m not a loser like you.” he joked, laughing. 

“I dare you to get high with me.” Keith started with a laugh that may have been nervous and a wide smile. 

Lance agreed with a larger grin and a nod, moving around to grab a soft pink, metal, Hello Kitty lunchbox. Keith couldn’t help but laugh to himself at the box. The edges were lined with black–but of course–there was a sad attempt at adding baby blue glitter to the black parts, likely done with unsteady hands. It at least must’ve been very well-loved when it was used for its intended purpose, and not as a holder of the Stash™. Lance slid the box on a small coffee table, and opened it gently. Inside bore a blue painted jar with a lid tightly screwed on top, a small glass pipe, and a collection of interesting lighters. There was cotton filling in the empty space, making sure everything stayed in place when the box was closed.

“Wow Lance, just wow.” Keith leaned forward to look at the contents.

Lance laughed lightly. “What? Is this not what you’re used to?” Keith shifted his gaze away and to the pile of clothes on the floor.

“I haven’t seen anyone’s stash before, but I still feel like you overdid it.”

“Oh well. So, have you used a pipe before?” Lance asked pulling the shiny glass out. As the pipe was lifted up, something under a wad of cotton shifted.

“What’s that?” Keith asked, curious what this hidden thing was. 

“A pipe?” Lance asked, thoroughly confused and oblivious to the object Keith was referring to. 

“Not that, I know what that is. What’s the pink package that came out when you moved it?” Keith grabbed the package, a couple more falling with it, two pinks and three green. 

On the package it read ‘Fruit drops lol’ so, definitely not actual fruit drops. Before Keith could inspect further, the package, and it’s others were snatched quickly away. 

“Those are something a friend gave me.” Lance tried to roll it off, without having to lie. 

“What friend?” Keith asked. 

“Evlyn. I see her on the weekends typically. Mostly on Sundays.” he shrugged. 

Keith nodded. “Your church group the stoner type?” he joked. Lance laughed softly.

“Want one?” Lance said avoiding the topic, “ I have strawberry and green apple.” He smiled, grabbing a package of each color. 

“Green Apple, since it doesn’t seem to be your favorite flavor.” Keith smiled and grabbed the green package. 

Lance smiled and took the pink one, opening the tough metal-plastic mix, and then the layer of thick clear plastic inside, finally reaching a gooey peach fruit drop looking thing. These gummies had definitely faced serious heat in the warmth of recent weather; it was a surprise they hadn’t melted yet. Lance popped the sugar coated treat onto his tongue as Keith struggled to get the second layer open, refraining from a victory dance when it finally sprung open. This one had a pale green look to it, also coated in what looked like sugar, and also fairly cooked. It didn’t taste bad at all when he ate it. In fact, if this was a normal candy, he would not mind eating a bowl full of these. Luckily, Keith knew how to pace himself and not do anything like that. 

“So these are, edibles, right?” Keith said as he continued chewing the sweet gummy. 

“Yeah. They take a minute to really kick in though. In my experience of a single time, it takes maybe an hour. Kinda faster than what I’ve been told some do,” Keith nodded. “But, anyways, do you still wanna smoke some too?” 

Keith thought on his options, and who cares at this point? He may as well agree, it’s not like somebody else would ever offer him this experience. He nodded. 

Lance smiled wide. “Truth or dare?” Keith started to wonder about Lance’s plan with this one, anything is possible.

“Dare?” Keith said with a large amount of insecurity in himself. It felt so weird. Lance had a way of letting Keith feel like he could open up and be more genuine than ever before. Though, that could just be their situation. 

“I dare you to shotgun with me.” Lance said flat-out. 

“Have you been planning this?” Keith knew perfectly well what shotgunning was. He had done it with someone a few times in the past, though it wasn’t necessarily something Keith had enjoyed to end the night. It just always was sloppy and careless. “Were you wanting to do that with some girl after sex?” Keith couldn’t hold back a glare and any of his hatred flowing forth. Lance didn’t really deserve the waves of anger coming off of Keith, but who else would suffer the mighty wrath of Keith’s pent up rage?

“I mean, maybe. I just wanna do it once, please Keith!” Lance smiled and held up his matte glass jar, shaking it gently.

Keith sighed. “Fine, sure, whatever.” He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, moving a leg down to cross those too. 

Lance put some into a soft paper, lighting the end and taking a breath in. He held the smoke in his mouth, letting the familiar taste linger before he felt his face heat as he moved his lips close to Keith’s. When Keith’s lips parted, he felt a heat wave fall through him as he exhaled into the between of Keith’s soft pink lips. Lance fell back to the ground and watched Keith take in the last of the cloud of smoke, closing his lips and parting them again to blow it out, the smoke more diluted than when it left Lance’s lips originally. Keith couldn’t help himself but to laugh. Keith didn’t know why the urge to laugh flowed over him, but it still did. Lance took another long drag as Keith held back his sudden laughter. Lance looked so alluring as he blew the smoke out of his tanned lips. Lance almost had the atmosphere of the boys Keith usually found himself liking. He almost needed a leather jacket and black and white filter over his face. 

“Don’t you want to take a drag?” Lance said semi-awkwardly, holding it out to Keith. 

“Sure.” He grabbed it out of Lances hand and took in a deep breath of the smooth smoke. Much better than the cigarettes he had most recently with some of his friends. “Truth… or dare?” He said, curious if it was his turn or not.

“Dare.” Lance said pulling out the d sound.

“I dare you to lick this random thing.” it was starting to hit Keith, hard. He really couldn’t remember what it was he wanted Lance to lick, so he let his hand point to some random thing.

“That’s your neck dude.” Lance said in a lazy tone, it must’ve hit him hard too. Keith took another long drag and handed it back. 

“Okay, just lick it.” Lance smiled and nodded.

It felt so, sensual. The slow movements Lance did, pulling himself closer to Keith, blowing another puff of smoke into the crook on his neck, a small grab to pull Keith’s shoulder closer. It was all so beautiful. Even as Lance leaned in, it felt like the world was going slow-mo as every second ticked closer to Lance’s lips meeting Keith’s neck. He gave a sweet peck before parting his lips on the skin and gently running his tongue on the spot. He then moved his tongue, his whole mouth, further to the neck. Keith blushed harshly, his brain foggy and happy. Keith’s eyes drew to Lances, or where Lance’s should be, but instead the tanned lids were closed gently as Lance worked from some kind of a muscle memory. Keith couldn’t find an ounce in himself to mind any of this, so he let Lance continue on. 

||○●○||

It had been a long time, in this kind of a state. The two boys just, hanging out. Other than the part Keith couldn’t shake from himself, even if he were to forget in the morning, the small red splotch would remind him. How long had it been since they started? Sure they were slow, very slow, the tingling buzz pleasantly radiating in their every bone. They had finished the joint, a small consideration of lighting a second flowed into their conversations. It hadn’t quite been more than an hour though, the earlier gummies had yet to really take effect on them. 

“Truth or dare Keith?” Lance said, curling his long legs to his chest as he asked.

“Truth..” Keith thought for a second, contemplating his answer, “Yeah, truth.”

“You can be so boring dude.” Lance laughed. 

Lance was just making fun of Keith, in a friendly way though, at least that was his intent. If it came off that way or not escaped him. What Lance really wanted was Keith asking for a dare, just so he could pull Keith into his lap and they could go to bed nicely cuddling. Lance was a simple boy when high, all he really wanted to focus on was getting some good cuddles from a good person. 

“Why, why the fuck do you get to school so early?” Lance asked, finally remembering to ask a truth as he prepared another joint. 

“I work out in the gym. I wasn’t born with abs you know.” Keith smirked lightly. “Now your turn asshole. Truth or dare?”

Lance gave a small laugh, took a long breath in of smoke, and thought for a moment. “Dare.”

Keith thought for a moment. He took a breath in, signaling he had an idea, and as he was about to speak he stopped himself and quietly shook his head, mumbling the words “goblin brain”, eyebrows knitting together as he tried to think of something else. Lance shot him a curious glance.

“Goblin brain? Just say what you were going to say.” Lance looked to Keith and gently gripped his arm. 

“I was thinking…” Keith looked away. “I dare you to let me do one thing to you, if you close your eyes.” Now Lance smiled. 

“Alright.” Lance wiggled his bottom into the seat and closed his eyes, ready for any of the random thoughts flowing through him to come true. Though he was not expecting what actually happened. 

Keith sat down onto Lance’s lap, a comfy seat, and Keith’s lips crashed onto his. Lance was struck, in no way had he thought of this happening, but he couldn’t mind. Lance let his filter finally nock loose as he reached to pull Keith closer into him. It was the same rhythm, the same thing over and over again. His body worked from memory, and at least now he knew he could probably do everything he typically did by memory. First him giving a hickey, getting to thoroughly into the licking of a neck, and now whatever this was. Extreme make out session? A heated dare? Well, whatever it was, he was lost in it yet again. 

Keisha walked down the stairs to the main level, it was late, and probably a risky idea to try and talk to Lance with Keith in his room, but she had to. Keisha thought her brother should know what was happening with their oldest sister, and what Mama had been saying to Papa all night. She quickly stopped by the kitchen, grabbing a small snack so when they go outside, they could have a snack to munch on if it came to that, which it typically did. She placed the bag in the large green army jacket she loved, mostly for the huge pockets and large size. Keisha continued to quietly run down the staircase leading into the basement, the smell of churros and cinnamon rolls wafting to her nose as she opened the door to descend the stairs. As she looked up from her last step, she saw Keith on Lance’s lap as they kissed, a couple candles making the room seem even more suggestive. 

“Oh my god, I knew it!” Keisha squealed, the two boys pulling apart. “I’m going to tell someone!” she said as she bound upstairs. That was likely the start to them wrapping up quickly for the night. 

||○●○||

So, memory loss could be a thing for Lance. A very real thing. Lance only thought that memory loss would be more of something in movies and fanfiction rather than reality. When the protagonist wakes up after a terrible night with the villain lying in his arms instead of the princess. The only difference here was Keith was not the villain, and Lance was most definitely not naked, he would’ve been able to feel the difference by now. Lance was dressed in some baggy target onesie pajamas, Keith in an old baggy and black tee and the only pair of shorts Lance knew Keith had, flannel strewn somewhere to the floor likely lost for a while. Lance looked around further, hoping, praying even, for some recollection of what happened after Keisha left the room the night before. What did they do? 

Keith had a massive headache. It was like his brain wanted him dead too. Keith couldn’t think much about the night before, an odd first night indeed. When Lance pulled Keith to the bed, knocking his head into the frame, Keith was beyond done with whatever was happening. Maybe there was somethin else hidden in Lance’s gummy, and Keith did not want to know what it was. 

Lance let his nose guide him from the bed to the stairs. He left his room for a mere moment to see what was cooking. Mama was making a classic waffle breakfast, so Lance excused himself back down before Keith would notice his absence. Once he got back to his room Lance pulled on an outfit for the day, and the list of what else they still needed to do throughout the week.

“Lance?” the sleepy voice of Keith rang to Lance’s ears. A feeling of guilt washed over Lance as he wasn’t sure what he may have done the night prior. 

“Yeah?’ Lance answered, forcing his voice to sound as certain as he could muster.

“The fuck, it’s 7 am. Why didn’t you wake me up?” Keith asked, a glare hidden under his shaggy bangs. 

Before Lance could make his comment, his mother opened the door, calling down the stairs. “Breakfast is ready for you boys!” 

“Let’s just go.” Lance said as he saw Keith’s jaw open. 

Lance gripped onto Keith’s arm gently as he pulled Keith upstairs. Once they were seated at the table, Lance finally let the boy go from his hands.

“How was sleeping with your wife?” Louis teased gently. 

“It was fine Luis. He didn’t snore much.” Lance joked along. Keith elbowed Lances ribs harshly, earning a soft yelp of pain. 

“Go find your seat at the table, and tell Mama I needed to fold my bed and I may be a little late to breakfast.” Luis smiled with a sly grin. Lance knew immediately Luis had something other than making his bed in mind, but he had no clue what it could be. 

Keith and Lance walked into the large dining area, the table stuffed with all the food it could possibly hold, hopefully enough to feed all four teens and four adults, not to mention the few smaller kids running around. Keith was seated by Lance, Keisha on his left side, and Veronica in front of him, Louis next to Papa when he finally came back. It was an interesting little setup, a smaller table cast to the side for Mateo and Leslie as they played with toys. 

“I have some news…” Mariana trailed lightly, a smile bursting onto her aging face. “We’re pregnant again!” She smiled wider, her brown eyes sparkling in the sunlight. 

“I’m so excited for you!. I hope we get another little girl for Leslie to play with.” Mama said with her natural motherly glow, moving to give Mariana a hug. 

“Ah, then we don’t have to get rid of all the baby stuff quite yet.” Papa said gruffly, a light tone traced in his voice. 

“What if one of your other kids have children, like Keisha?” Keith asked, quite innocently. 

Laughter roared from the table, even the kids table. Keith cast a confused look to Lance, hoping the boy would be of some good use to him and tell him why they were laughing. Lance just pat Keith’s head and mentioned something about talking later. Keith then looked to Keisha, her face a bit pinker than usual. He sighed and let the whole topic roll away as people said their congrats to Mariana. As breakfast started to wrap up, Lance excused himself from the table, dragging Keith to the bathroom with him.

“What the fuck Lance?” Keith mumbled as they stood in the tiny main floor bathroom.

“There’s a joke where we are saying Keisha is a lesbian, just some fun.” Lance said flatly. 

“If it was just that you wanted to talk about, why did you have to drag me to the bathroom?” Keith tried crossing his arms, his hands touching all kinds of things as he tried to raise them, and then again as he let his arms fall back down. 

“Because my family will probably start pointing jokes like that to us, I wanted to tell you to maybe not comment on things like that. I don’t want them to think that all but one of their kids is gay.” Lance said, it probably wasn’t his actual reason, but Keith wanted to leave the bathroom as soon as he could so he didn’t dare pry further.

“Well things like this probably isn’t helping you any, if this room were any smaller we would have to touch more parts than just this.” Keith gestured as best as he could to their chests and faces, their waists a large enough separation apart. Lance realized what Keith meant and tried to nod, almost knocking Keith’s head into the wall mirror, and then shoving him out of the room as Lance decided to use the bathroom for its intended purpose as Keith slinked back downstairs to grab his backpack for the day. 

||○●○||

School, an uneventful time. Allura was gone from lunch, again. Lance was seated right next to Keith, like any other school day when Keith decided to join them. Pidge was on the computer, working on some programming project for an AP class. Hunk was busy sharing a video chat with Shay, showing off all the food he made to share for lunch that day. All in all, a typical boring day. Even Mr.Shirogane didn’t comment on the lessened bickering between Keith and Lance, he actually found it relieving. It was a little unusual in the lack of fights, but that’s what made the second day fairly mundane. Nobody in their right minds could mind this sudden truce.


	3. Chapter 3

Day 2 out of 7, a pretty easy day. The starts of inside jokes, making each other smile, learning to enjoy one another’s company. The day was good, emphasis on the word “day”. It was after dinner, sent to Lance’s room when Keith had to say it. He had to tell Lance. But Keith couldn’t. Not unless he got Lance to squeeze it out of him, so as they played the game, Keith played up his anxieties for having to go back in a few days. His phone was being killed by a multitude of texts from Ali he kept ignoring, which seemed to help him some when she finally rang, right as Keith was locked into yet another inescapable truth. He decided to be a bit of an ass and answer her right as Lance was about to propose his truth.

“Yes?” Keith said, his voice the usual dark grumble he puts on over the phone. 

 

“Why do you always answer like that? You sound like some hitman Keith!” Ali responded in her usual emotional voice. 

 

“Why did you call?” He said with a flat tone, his eyes not moving from a Lance stuck in a state of disbelief. 

 

“Where have you been? I’m your roommate, and I feel like Ms. Rejic knows something I don’t! Have you been out with  _ him  _ this whole time?” Ali said, changing her usual voice to a hushed tone when talking about the very boy Keith didn’t want on his mind.

 

“No. I would never.” Keith didn’t like thinking about him, about what he does, or what he did. Keith did his best to‒around Lance at least‒not think much about him until the time arose where he had to. “I’m doing a home-ec project, Ali. I’ll be back after tomorrow.” He added finally. 

 

“Nice to hear you’re actually following the rules for once!” she teased. Luckily, it seemed she dropped the whole matter of  _ him _ , but that didn’t stop Lance having a front row seat to Keith’s reaction to the sudden mention. As Keith was told, it sometimes was like a light left his eyes and they became cloudy. 

 

“I do from time to time. I promise I will be back... home.” He hesitated for a moment, the word not ever feeling fitting for where he lived, but until he was old enough that’s all he’s got. “I have to go though. Important work to be done.” He then hung up, not looking for a response from the younger girl.

 

“Ali? Leaving?” Lance said, his eyes tracing over Keith in a way that made Keith feel like some pity case. 

 

“Yeah. So, are you going to ask your question, or is it automatically my turn to start asking you something?” Who knew a game of Truth or Dare would make the best excuse to change topics, something Keith would keep in mind.

 

“I’ll ask. Tell me about  _ that _ .” Lance said, his voice a dominant tone with hints of worry flowing through it. Lance was pretty easy to read, honestly. 

 

“Uh, be more descriptive.” Keith racked his brain for a good way to explain himself, his mind wanting to run away in some form of fear. Keith, bold as fuck, would do anything but confronting Lance. 

 

“Leaving? Please tell me about that? We are partners, so if you try and fuck my life up, you’re fucking your own too. Senior year Keith, there is no times for screwing around if we want to graduate.”

 

“Fine. That’s your truth.” Keith said dryly as he scrambled further for the right words. “ That was my roommate back at the group home I live at asking where I’ve been because we have rules. Lots of rules. One being, we can’t be gone for more than three days, otherwise, they’ll file a missing person report. So after the third day, I need to go back. For a full day.” Keith finished with a small glare to Lance, despite the relief of finally telling him. 

 

“So, you’re forced to leave me because of these rules, and you were planning on telling me when?” Lance said, his voice rising. 

 

“I- I don’t know…” Keith sighed.

 

From the top of the stairs, Mrs. McClain yelled to the boys. “It’s Friday game night boys, come join us!” Keith could practically hear her smile.

 

||○●○||

 

In the whole rest of the evening, the boy’s tension melted away. Mama McClain kept making sly comments to Keith about how long his hair was getting as Louis kept disappearing periodically. Lance still seemed to not want to let go of the whole “orphanage” subject and quietly asked more questions about what happened to Keith’s parents. To make it up to Lance, Keith kept sighing and answering each and every question, which brought Lance back to a more neutral relationship with Keith, lifting the small grudge easily enough. The night was finally spiraling to an end, people going back to their rooms and getting ready for bed. 

 

“Louis, I told you already. Stay in your own room, it’s probably a ton cooler up there, you have your stuff up there too.” Lance said harshly to his smaller brother. 

 

“Fine, perra!” Louis responded.

 

“Google translate that?” Lance laughed and rolled his eyes as Louis sheepishly looked away.

 

With one last pitiful look of defeat, Louis went bounding up the stairs to what Lance could only hope to be his own room. 

 

“Sorry. He wanted to sleep on the couch in my room. I don’t know why…” Lance trailed.

 

“No, no. It’s fine. Let’s just... get some sleep tonight.” Keith said coolly. Lance was always jealous of the chill vibes Keith was able of producing, something Lance felt he could never quite master.

 

They went down the stairs, making the descent to Lance’s room. Keith grabbed his small bag of stuff and walked to the bathroom. Lance wasn’t really sure how Keith had all the stuff he needed in such a small, empty bag, but that wasn’t really for him to know. Lance took Keith’s absence to start changing into his comfiest set of pajamas. He was one who usually slept in very little, since his room could get fairly warm, and wasn’t willing to take his Abuela’s blankets off in the night. Lance was only just getting something over his usual sleeping boxers‒which had holes in the worst of places, and was fairly transparent by this point‒when he heard a heavy yell from his bathroom. Keith came bursting out in a fit of fury, throwing his bag to the ground, voice raised as he explained what had happened. 

 

“Some fucker stole my toothpaste and swapped it with some Minion banana crap!” Keith was practically yelling, almost visible steam pouring out of his ears. 

 

“Woah, calm down. It was probably Louis thinking he’s pulling some not-funny prank on you. Let me get some clothes on and I’ll pester him about it.” Lance noticed Keith hadn’t noticed his near-naked state and realized as Keith turned, they were both in for an awkward moment.

 

“Get clothes-” Keith finally processed what was in front of him. Lance had half a leg in his blue and white striped pants, and everything could be seen. Lance could’ve sworn he saw Keith redden a whole lot.

 

Lance pulled his pants the rest of the way on sloppily, threw on some old tee, and ran upstairs to find Louis. Lance kept running, one flight of stairs, two flights, and Louis was in his line of sight, a sly smile of the kid’s small tan lips. 

 

“Louis.” Lance growled, Louis shuddering slightly. 

 

“Not funny?” Louis tried to pretend his big brother didn’t scare him, but he knew an angry Lance isn’t the best Lance. 

 

“No. Give him back the toothpaste. Do not try that again.” Lance started to soften, a brotherly level setting in as he saw the pure fear from Louis. “Maybe also plan something when Keith is asleep or something, okay?” Lance hugged Louis and ruffled his hair.

 

“Alright, Lance.” Louis then ran to his room and came back with Keith’s toothpaste. With that, Louis was off again. 

 

Lance went back down, tossing the tube to Keith as he stepped down the last few steps. 

 

“Thanks, Lance.” Keith said, not looking at Lance, glad Lance took the time he did to get it.

 

||○●○||

 

They spent the night in silence, Louis slipping in early the next morning before Keith woke up. Louis had managed to cut a chunk of the mullet off and ran away without a scratch from Keith. It was quite the sight when Keith woke up, a chunk missing from one side of his mullet. Lance held back a little bit of laughter as the lopsided mop was dragged to the breakfast table, and nobody said a word. 

 

“Keith, why did you cut your hair?” Mama finally said, after a few minutes of silence.

 

“What are you talking about, Mama McClain?” Keith turned to Lance for an answer, or maybe just out of habit at this point. 

 

“Someone cut your mullet a bit, Keith.” Lance mumbled into his ear softly. Keith stood up calmly and walked into the bathroom, looking at his hair in the mirror. 

 

The entire left side of what used to hang down was now cut jaggedly, and small chunks of the right had been hacked off. Not a very pleasant look, especially with Keith’s dark black hair. It was definitely a noticeable thing that Keith would have to get fixed sooner rather than later.  He stepped back out of the bathroom and then into his seat at the table.

 

“Would you like one of us to help, fix that up?” Keisha offered softly. 

 

“Yes, if you could.” Keith said politely as he continued on with the breakfast of the day. 

 

“Mama should be the one to do it though. I think Keith would feel a bit better if she did it.” Lance added. “Not that you aren’t very good, Keisha.” Keisha shot Lance a coy smile as she secretly threw a dash of syrup to Lance’s lap. 

 

||○●○||

 

Keith couldn't see the whole time. A lot of hair was chopped off though, it made sense since a year or more had passed since he was last taken to get his hair cut. The mullet had gotten somehow worse, and now that there were no mirrors in this stupid kitchen so he couldn't see if the mullet was now terrible or back to the old days of him letting it tickle his neck and make him want to keep it up until it grew a touch more. 

 

“We are finally done!” Keisha said with a similar bubbly tone to Lance.

 

“Can I see or should I just guess it's fine enough to walk out in?” Keith said slightly dryly. 

 

“Here, mullet-head.” Keisha said with a small laugh as she handed Keith a handheld mirror and picked another mirror up being his head. 

 

It wasn't bad, Mama had kept the mullet, and now it was only a small bit longer than Lance's hair. “Thank you, Mrs. McClain.” 

 

“You can still call me Mama!” she smiled warmly as she moved from his blind spot and into his sight. 

 

“Or as you called her, Mama McClain.” Keith was never going to live that down, was he?

 

“Thank you for that, Keisha. I totally appreciate it so much.” She gave a small laugh and took the cape off. 

 

“Go see your husband. I'm sure he's itching to see the new hair.” she joked lightly, a familiar sparkle in her blue eyes. 

 

“He's not my husband!” Keith wanted to protest before an odd flush came over him and Mama helped him out of the tall chair. 

 

Keith kept his mouth shut and stepped through the house to where Lance was sprawled out on the brown couch, one leg swung over the back and the other pulled towards the floor off the cushions. Mama McClain gave him a soft smack and probably a light scold in Spanish and Lance moved into a more normal position. Keith stepped into Lance's sight, an unwanted blush flourish on his face as Lance's pupils dilated and his jaw fell open slightly.

 

“You look- woah.” Lance barely said, starting to look around and taking notice of his sister and mom still in the room.

 

“Thanks.” Keith cracked a small smile, which if he did so anywhere else, everyone would be shocked by. 

 

“Lets go out to the park and talk about what else we need to do for our project.” Lance said after finally detaching himself from the new level of shock that waved over him.

 

“Alright. Let's get going.” Keith said, his voice falling into its usual tone as he pulled out of the moment and let his mind wash back to sanity.

 

||○●○||

 

At the park the two boys sat on opposite sides of the seesaw's inner plate of wood, their knees touching just barely. Lance fiddled with the paper in his hand, his eyes cast to his left knee. 

 

“Truth or Dare?” Lance asked after just enough silence.

 

“So we are still doing this. Okay, Truth.” Keith sighed and looked at Lance, bracing for some odd question like how big he was or some odd thing like that. 

 

“Why did you stop hanging around all of us last year? Why did you abandon us basically?” Lance said, putting all of it out there for Keith, telling him his true feelings. The one thing Lance honestly wanted to know. 

 

“I-” Keith shifted, the seesaw shifting with, accidentally pulling Lance close enough the distance between their knees no longer a question. “I left because there was something I didn't want to face. After the party Hunk and Shay threw, you know, the one where she announced she had to go back to wherever she lives.” Keith sighed. He remembered that night well. 

 

“That was back at the start of sophomore year though.” 

 

Keith nodded. “I was hoping that you'd acknowledge what happened, but I guess you never will.” There, he said it. 

 

“What do you mean? The bonding moment?” Keith rolled his eyes.

 

“Now you admit it. But no, the bonding moment was when you passed out at Halloween from too much whatever. This is different.” Keith sighed.

 

“Then tell me what happened!” Lance said, a tone of familiar annoyance wafting through.

 

“You pulled me off into some room and kissed me.” Keith paused for a moment, wondering if he should say what's next, but if he's putting the truth out there, he may as well tell it all. “When you kissed me, you said you loved me.” There it was. Now the main question is if Lance even knew what he was doing. And looking back, it made sense to Keith that Lance had probably taken something and nothing that happened meant much of anything. At least to the oblivious Lance who sat across from him. 

 

“I-I didn’t know I did that. I’m sorry Keith…” Lance felt a drop in his spirits. The entire time he was angry that after they were finally becoming friends, Keith left all of a sudden, and it was all his fault. Lance was vulnerable to Keith before he left, and got burned, but it wasn’t necessarily because of what Keith did, but what Lance did to him. How could he be such a big idiot as to have ruined the one good thing that was going between them?

 

“I- I guess it stung when you didn’t remember afterward. I think I just wanted to know if you were just tripping on something or if I should’ve cared.” Keith felt a slight release with having the truth laid out, but the situation felt far to heavy still. “It’s my turn to ask, right?”

 

“You always forget, don’t you?” Lance joked. 

 

“Probably because you bring us so far off-topic. Anyways.” Keith started before Lance should shovel in his objections. “Truth or Dare, Lance?” 

 

Keith’s mouth cracked an unwilling smile and Lance joined him. “Dare.” Lance spoke the word with such a certainty like he knew what Keith was going to dare him to do. 

 

Keith thought of a dare for a moment and instead of saying his dare, Keith stood from the seesaw and held out his hand. “Let’s go back to your place.” 

 

||○●○||

 

Once the boys reached Lance’s home and they were safely tucked into the basement bedroom, Lance let the eating curiosity spill out of him.

 

“What are you going to dare me to do?” Lance may have fumbled with a word or two, his mind running on dirty ideas. 

 

“Take off your fuuuuuucking shirt.” Keith said, drawing out the curse word and a smile cracking back onto his lips. Damn, he smiled a lot around Lance. He also felt, brighter in a way, like these three days couldn’t be long enough of an escape from reality. 

 

Lance gave Keith an ‘are you serious?’ look and with a nod from Keith, Lance pulled his white-blue tee-shirt off. Keith was still very much shocked with the set of muscles Lance had underneath his clothes, something Keith knew he’d remember but never truly get used to. It was even shocking back when they shared the last semester of gym together. Or when they went to the pool with the others in the paladin group only to be ditched not long after their arrival. 

 

“Alright, enough staring, truth or dare Keith?” Keith pulled his eyes back up to the blue eyes of his fake partner.

 

“Truth.” Keith stated.

 

“What is your sexuality?” The question of the hour. 

 

“I’m gay.” Keith said plainly. When he received a confused look from Lance he continued speaking. “Like Shiro and Adam.”

 

“Wait, I thought that was a joke between the students. They are actually together?” Keith nodded. 

 

“They have been engaged all year. They plan to get married over winter break in some snowy town with a few of their families there. I’d be invited if the place could fit more than 20 people.” Lance sat down as the shock settled in. It was real, it was like Lance was some fangirl and his OTP became cannon, something nearly four years in the making. 

 

After Keith had enough of the shocked and stunned silence he asked, “Truth or dare, bitch.” At least he said it without the bitch and in a slightly nicer tone.

 

Lance shook his head before answering, “Truth. Because I think I need a few more moments to recover from that shock before I get up and do anything.”

 

“Who’s boring now?” Keith teased lightly. “But the same question back to you, though I think I already know.” Keith added the last part softly under his breath.

 

“I guess, bi?” Lance said, more uncertainty flowing through his every word. 

 

“Bi. knew it. Why the question though?” Lance sighed. 

 

“I just... wonder if I like girls too much or something.”

 

“Too much to be bi?” Lance nodded. “Dude, have you ever liked a guy?”

 

Lance shrugged. “I mean, Lotor is kinda hot. Rude and terrible, but damn, he’s hot.” Keith took a sharp intake of breath and regained his posture. 

 

“I guess he is attractive.” Keith felt the words cut through his throat heavily. 

 

“I would totally tap that if given the chance.” Lance laughed. “But I don’t think I’m quite the right type for a straight boy who hit on Allura.” Keith saw his own opportunity for some one-off sly comment to mumble more to himself than anybody else, but still, it came out. 

 

“I think I turned him gay though.” Keith was under the impression he had said that under his breath and yet somehow Lance caught on.

 

“Wait, are you saying you turned Lotor gay?” Lance gave a look like the gears in his head were working overtime, first with Adam and Shiro and now for Keith and Lotor. 

 

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Keith laughed a small bit. 

 

“Wow, harsh dude. But Truth or dare, tell me about that.”

 

“Is that even allowed?” Keith protested. 

 

“Yes, because no matter which one you pick, You have to answer the question!”

 

“Fine Lance, fine.” Keith rolled his eyes and sighed as he collapsed into the beanbag by the chair Lance was sitting on. 

 

Honestly, Keith was fairly certain Lance’s room was where any old furniture that nobody needed was stored since the garage was filled with holiday supplies, baby supplies, and mounds of family memorabilia. 

 

“I’m... kinda Lotor’s friend with benefits. I think he likes it too...” Lance hung to Keith's every word, trying to process what Keith was saying. 

 

“Oh, I really wanna hear about this now!” Lance’s eyes sparkled, his body language screaming for a small bag of popcorn as he watched Keith with anticipation to hear about this whole fuckbuddy situation. 

 

“Truth or dare?” Sometimes Keith found himself actually grateful this game started, and for once Lance was pretty smart in choosing a game that can so easily change subjects.

 

“Aw, come on dude. Tell me about your boyfriend before you make me answer that.”

 

“He’s not my boyfriend, Lance. Just answer me, truth or dare?” 

 

Lance gave a soft sigh. “Fine, dare.”

 

“I dare you to…” Keith took a moment to think, what did he want Lance to do? “Give me your phone so I can text whoever I want, anything I want.” Lance’s face almost went pale, with all the things that could happen, this could be the harshest dare. 

 

Lance pulled his phone from his pocket and unlocked it, pulling his contacts up and handing it to Keith. “Have fun, but I’m going to try and fix whatever you do when I get my phone back.” Keith smiled.

 

“Alright.” Keith said, starting to scroll through until he landed on his chosen target. The name on the contact was ‘Green Gremlin.’ Probably some code Keith would never be able to understand. 

 

Keith hit the text button and let his fingers fly effortlessly on the keys, typing a silly, “Hello babe, miss me?~” to which he got a quick response.

 

Lance: Hello babe, miss me?~

**Green Gremlin: The fuck’s up with you today?**

Lance: Wanna have another fun night? ;)

**Green Gremlin: MOre NINteNdO?**

Lance: You could call it that, or a dance of bodies ;)

**Green Gremlin: Lance, aren’t you supposed to be with Keith or something?**

**Green Gremlin: Oh shit, are you inviting me to a threesome?**

Lance: How do you know I’m supposed to be with Keith right now?

**Green Gremlin: Lance, dude, you told all of us the very next day at lunch. Well, other than Allura, but being the good friend I am I caught her up in AP English.**

 

Keith turned to Lance. “Uh, who am I texting?” Lance shoveled into the beanbag with Keith, their bodies as squished as possible to fit nearly two grown males on an old beanbag chair. 

 

“You’re texting Pidge dude. What the hell are you telling him?” Lance looked onto the screen, catching a few lines here and there. Keith brought his eyes back to the screen, skimming over the new messages.

 

**Green Gremlin: You sounded like you two were dating.**

**Green Gremlin: Oh my god are you dating?**

Lance: No! Not a fucking chance.

**Green Gremlin: Only someone who doesn’t want people to know about his gay relationship would say that!**

 

Now, this was when Lance took his phone back, his fingers flying over the screen as he figured a way to dig them out of this hole they found themselves beyond ankle deep in.

 

Lance: Still, no!

**Green Gremlin: Do you like Keith?**

Lance: I mean- yeah.

Lance: But he’s my friend.

**Green Gremlin: Oh My God.**

**Green Gremlin: Wait, who’s bed did he sleep in last night?**

Lance: Mine, for a minute

Lance: But I don’t really remember!

**Green Gremlin: Oh. My. God. You guys had sex didn’t you?**

Lance: Fu Ck!

**Green Gremlin: IM screenshotting thissssssssss and sending it to everyone!**

Lance: WTF dude

**Green Gremlin: COngrats, years worth of a crush and you two finally are together, yussss.**

 

Lance looked to Keith. “Fuck.” was all he could really say.

 

Lance’s phone started to vibrate after what barely felt like any time, Allura’s contact lighting the screen. “Maybe this is our chance to clear this up before Pidge can spread what’s not true.” Keith kept quiet and nodded. 

 

“Hey, Allura!”

**“Hey Lance, How are you?”**   
“I’m doing alright, but hey, can you do something for me?”

**“Oh of course Lance!”**

“Uh, Pidge will probably start texting you guys soon, and could you just-”

**“Oh yes, she already sent out the text! Congrats on you and Keith! I’m glad you two are together.”**

“Fu- Princess, that’s what I-”

**“Sorry Lance, I have to go out. I will probably say hi Monday, or after my date~”**

 

With that, she hung up. What had Keith done?

 

“I’m sorry Lance.” Keith stood up from the chair and started walking around the room. 

 

“It’s fine. You know what, we should just leave it be.” Lance said, a small amount of something rose up in Keith’s heart. What was the name of the feeling?

 

“You sure?”

 

“Yeah. And, I think if we kept trying to stop Pidge, we’d be just giving him more fuel to think we are together. It will likely just disappear if we leave it be long enough.” Keith sighed.

 

“I’m sure we are probably going to get a few congrats before the day is up though.” Lance nodded.

 

“Well, Keith, truth or dare?” Lance threw a cocky smile and a sparkling look in his eyes. 

 

“Truth, mostly because I don’t want you doing that back to me.” Lance laughed infectiously, making Keith give into another small smile. 

 

“How many contacts do you have, and who?” Lance looked very intrigued as Keith tried to count his contacts and remember who they were.

 

“Uh, seven.” Keith answered.

 

“Seven?” Lance was struck with shock, he was expecting at least 10 or more, after watching Keith get along so well with the Blades (He knew Keith fit in well with them, but really just watched him to see if he would ever come back. Not like he cared whenever Pidge or Allura asked him.)

 

“That may be an overestimate though…” Keith started to count on his fingers as he began listing off the few names. “Of course I have your number now, and Ali’s, I have Hunk’s because he forced it into my phone. I have Shiro's, Adam's too. I also have Lotor’s and Axca’s. So yeah, seven.”

 

Lance was dumbfounded. “Wow, only seven.”

 

“It’s easy for you to be shocked by that, Mr. I-have-every-girl’s-number-in-school-plus-all-the-jocks” Keith teased.

 

“Okay, I’m not attracted to jocks. That part is not true.” Lance cracked a smile and stood to lightly punch Keith’s shoulder. 

 

“Fine.” Keith cracked a smile. 

 

“What time is it, Keith?” Lance asked, stepping around the boy, trying to remember where his clock was cast aside to.

 

Keith pulled out the silly little flip-phone, reading the same grubby screen that made Lance want to ask Pidge to give up one of their older phones so it could be cleaned and given as a present to Keith so Lance wouldn’t have to shovel his laughter back down into his throat.

 

“It looks to be around 11:25 pm.” Keith answered, unsure why this was at all important.

 

“Let’s go upstairs and start lunch. Have you cooked before?” Lance held out his hand to Keith. 

 

Keith took Lance’s hand reluctantly before answering. “I don’t cook much outside of that one culinary class I took thinking it was Home Ec.” Lance sighed heavily. 

 

“Good to know, simple meals for now.” 

 

“Wait, do we have to cook for this project?” Keith had the realization that they were three days in and had probably only done one out of their list of 10 things they needed to do. 

 

“Yes, if you read it at all yesterday, we each need to cook a meal for the family. I’ll cook most of it today, and Mama or someone can help you cook when it’s your turn.”

 

“I can cook, kinda. I think I can cook Mac and Cheese without burning it.” Keith said, trying to defend his very limited cooking skills. 

 

“That’s kinda sad, Mullet. Not kinda, very sad.” Lance laughed and began pulling Keith up the stairs and into the kitchen. 

 

“What are you cooking, Lance?” Keith said as he sat down on one of the stools on the large marble and dark brown island. 

 

“I’m cooking taco stuff.” Lance said as he swung around to grab some beef from the fridge and an array of more than just taco spices on his way back to the stove. “So Keith, can you chop up the onions and tomatoes?” 

 

Keith nodded as Lance placed a cutting board and the veggies in front of Keith with a nice blue knife. “Thanks, Lance. I could’ve grabbed this myself.”

 

Lance laughed. “I’m not going to make my wife have to do too much. If you want, you could just sit there and look pretty as I cook.” Lance laughed and Keith stuck his tongue out with a smile tugging at his lips. 

 

“Fine, Lance. Even though I’m not your wife, I’ll cut your veggies for you.” 

 

There was a certain lightness and freedom both Keith and Lance felt as lunch was being cooked. They had soft banter between one another as Lance tried his hardest to show Keith how to cook the meat properly, and how to cook it more evenly. It was a really comfortable time, surprisingly. It was almost relaxing, letting loose as you get to make fun of your friend, a good way to spend a good long while. Lance’s heart fluttered softly, in a way he thought only people in books could really feel and have last, but he liked it. Keith, on the other hand, couldn’t really describe the feeling. He never knew there could be such a feeling. Keith knew at the very least, the world seemed to be brighter than he remembered it, and it was way prettier and more colourful than he thought. It was like he was living in the dark for all his life so he didn’t know his world was dark until the moment that veil lifted. 

 

Cooking was a definitely hard thing to master, and at the least, everything made was still edible and thoroughly cooked. Once the food was plated, Allura had decided to join for lunch, sitting casually on the couch and happily getting along with Lance’s family as Lance found himself for once not distracted by the princess but by his husband for the week.

 

“Lance, why don’t you come sit over here with me and your sister!” Allura said, rosy cheeks as Lance blushed softly.

 

“Go on Lance, sit next to your princess. I’m sure she wants you over there because she likes you back!” Veronica butt in, nudging her brother with that playful sibling tease. 

 

Lance turned to Keith. “Keith?”

 

Keith smiled, the feeling he was floating on falling through at the comment. “Go, she clearly wants you over there.” Keith pushed Lance to Allura’s direction. 

 

“Thanks, buddy.” Lance smiled and crawled over to sit by Allura’s legs, between her and Keisha. 

 

Keith watched Lance as he smiled and laughed. He at least knew Lance was happy.

 

Lance couldn’t help but sneak looks back at Keith, a small part of Lance wanted to pull Keith over with him, but he didn’t want to invite Keith over if he didn’t want to go over. Lance didn’t let this show, of course. Even if he didn’t listen to most anything the girls were saying, he still laughed at the right cues, and smiled whenever it was necessary. 

 

“...And Lotor tried asking me out again yesterday. He’s got to understand that he and I are done, right?” Lance caught coming from Allura’s mouth. An odd sentence since he thought Lotor and Keith were together. 

 

“What?” Lance asked. 

 

“Lotor and I split up, last year or so and he still tries hitting on me. He was terrible when we were together!” Allura said a certain edge in her voice as she recounted their past.

 

“How so?” Lance pressed on.

 

“He seemed so... amazing at the time until I found out he was cheating with some girl. Well, more than just one girl. He was cheating with my cousin Romelle!” Allura said with a heavy heart.

 

“Wait, so he was, cheating on you with other people?” Lance said, trying to make sure he had the story straight. 

 

“Other girls. My cousin, people I knew, and people who knew we were together. I even saw he had a flash drive filled with videos of some dark-haired girl I’ve never seen before. He was so terrible, and now he says he’s changed but I’ve moved way on. Right, Keisha?” Keisha laughed as Lance thought it through. 

 

“Excuse me, princess, I’m going to join Keith again.” Lance said with a sudden urgency as more thoughts hit him.

 

Lance crawled closer to Keith, Lance’s memory shooting things at him, like small comments Keith made that Lance thought not much on but to ignore.

 

“Keith?” Lance said softly.

 

“Yes, Lance?” Keith said looking up from his phone. 

 

“Truth or dare?”

 

“Seriously, now Lance?” Keith rolled his eyes. 

 

“Yes, truth or dare?” Lance said again. 

 

“Truth.”

 

“Alright, tell me about you and Lotor.” Keith felt the colour drain from his body. 

 

“Can I veto this?” Keith asked softly.

 

“No, it’s against the rules. Now please, I want to know.” Lance had such a falling feeling when he heard Keith. The lines were only starting to connect, but he wanted to know if he was right, because Lance almost wondered if Keith was the dark-haired ‘girl.’

 

Keith looked to the side. “I’ll tell you after lunch okay?” Lance nodded, but he didn’t know just how long he could really wait to hear the truth. 

 

Lance let out a long sigh. “Fine, mullet-boy.” He added the last part with a small punch into Keith’s arm. 

 

All during lunch Lance found himself with the inability to concentrate on whatever his family was talking about, sometimes nodding along which would earn him some elbowing from Keith every now and again for reasons Lance could care less to know. His mind played with the idea of Keith and Lotor being a thing. Though, he was certain he saw Lotor flirting with Allura not terribly long ago. Even if Allura wasn’t interested any longer, and spending more often with Keisha from what Lance remembered hearing. When lunch finally wound to an end, Lance pulled Keith to clean the dishes with him so they could be more alone to talk, at least before his niece and nephew were thrown to him to take care of for a little while. 

 

“Okay, tell me, Keith. Tell me about you and him.” Lance said with a very intent purpose. 

 

Keith sighed as he started to reach for another dirtied dish, ready with the soapy sponge. “What brought this on Lance?”

 

“If you guys are together then why did he flirt with Allura?” Lance said, his heart sinking at the thought. “Does he cheat on his partners?”

 

Keith let out another sigh, cleaning the plate for a moment as he thought of how to say the next things correctly. “He and I are not together.” Lance felt the sinking feeling ease up slightly. “But he does cheat. On everyone. I’m sure he’s worse than you would be.” Keith finished. 

 

“Wow, kinda hurt there, Keith. But, I thought you two were together?”

 

“I have no fucking clue how you got that idea. I don’t fucking like him one bit. He’s a big piece of shit.” Keith was starting to fume, the plate in his hand was in a death-grip as Keith spit out the words. 

 

Lotor was terrible, a despicable being who had a whole lot of karma yet to catch up on him. Keith hated the fact Lotor still did his thing. But there was something nice, seeing Lance’s face regain slight color when finding Keith was still single. Plus all during lunch when Keisha and Veronica were pestering them if they would try and get together when it was all over, and Lance’s casual agreeance to it. Even when asked if they were together at the very moment, Lance answered with an “Of course.” Though, it was a more casual thing than Lance typically was. 

 

Looking back, Lance and Keith grew together. During all those crazy homeroom projects and school-sanctioned rivalries with different classes, the years really made them trust each other, bond, and have the rivalry melt into something much nicer. Even after Keith left Lance through all junior year, bringing them back to where they started, but only slightly.

 

The past week felt like it melted away the hurt from last year, into whatever the hell was happening this year. When Keith watched Lance on the floor with Leslie and Mateo playing with the younger kids. The same feeling he kept getting came back. Keith felt his heart pound, but it was different. It was like a certain weight like his heart skipped a beat and when it decided to work again, it worked double time to make up for skipping. It was a nice feeling, like he just wanted to smile, to exist near Lance. Like he was in love. When the feelings started, he didn’t really notice. Not until that single moment but still Keith had that numbness, that sinking feeling flowed through underneath it all, mostly because now Keith had it dawning on him, he’d go back to the home, he’d spend another night there, and Lance’s family, Keisha, Veronica, everyone would be another memory. It was an odd feeling, definitely. To have to leave this home, and go back to things like set times for homework, and Ali, and Lotor. 

 

||○●○||

 

It would definitely be a fun night. Lance knew that much. The day was basic. They ended up making great headway on their project since this was for school after all. It was an interesting thing to think about. Lance and Keith had only spent three days together, and it seemed like it was less of a school project rather than an emotional one. Lance didn’t mind it, not one bit. It was nice to have Keith back, to be friends again, after so long, maybe even be more. 

 

“So Keith, choose our activity for the evening!” Lance’s voice rang musically as he pulled Keith to spin him around the open floor. The kids had gone home with Mariana and Marco. 

 

“Get high, or go to the park. Your call.” Keith smiled, staying close and wrapped into Lance’s arms, maybe a moment too long.

 

“Let’s try the park now, and try that later tonight.” Keith nodded. 

 

Keith and Lance strolled over to the park, Keith keeping a bit closer to Lance than usual, though Lance honestly couldn’t dare mind the extra warmth. Both of them were in their usual jackets, Keith’s cropped-stitched mess of an old jacket helping him as much as Lance’s jacket helped him in the wind and icy feel. It was December anyways. At least it wasn’t snowing. When the two boys finally reached their destination, Lance pulled himself back onto the see-saw as he waited for Keith to get the idea. Which soon enough Keith joined him on the platform in the middle. 

 

“I dare you to get closer to me.” Lance smiled as he played with a small string inside his sleeve. 

 

Keith moved closer, as they shared their body heat, Lance warmed up, melting into the warmth of Keith. “So Lance, truth or dare?”

 

“Truth. I’ll be boring right now. I just don’t want to get up.” He mumbled lightly, his eyelids closing. 

 

“What season is your favorite?” Keith asked. Lance felt Keith move around at the question. How? Lance could not answer you that.

 

“Fall. Or spring.” Lance answered plainly, as though those were the only choices. 

 

“Why?” there Keith went, moving again. Lance opened his eyes and looked at Keith. 

 

“Because I miss the rain, and Mama’s garden is beautiful in the spring and fall.” Lance sighed and kept looking into Keith’s eyes. 

 

Whatever was happening, Lance felt like he could get lost memorizing Keith’s eyes. He could get lost mesmerized by Keith in full. The way Keith hid a curved figure underneath too-large clothes, the way Keith takes so long on his mullet every day, making all the efforts somehow last for the entire day. How Keith’s palms were calloused but not his fingertips. Even how Keith looked back at him, made Lance fall deeply into something. Was it love? Lance couldn’t really imagine it, him and Keith, living together, okay, maybe Lance could imagine it. Only because it was happening, right? Lance only wanted to say, ‘God, I love you’ to Keith only because they’re like brothers. Right? No matter how much Lance tried to find another explanation, another reason, Lance couldn’t explain it any other way. He was caught in a web that he never really wanted to be a part of.

 

“Let’s head back, Keith. I’m too cold.” Lance said abruptly, sitting up and getting off the see-saw. 

 

“Alright.” Keith nodded, hopping off as well. 

 

Then it began to pour. Oh, how Lance missed the rain. Lance couldn’t help but to pause everything, and look to the sky as the little drops fell over him. And Keith knew, for sure, at that moment he was fully in love. Keith knew for certain, he wanted Lance.

 

||○●○||

 

When the boys got home, an odd feeling they both tried to hide was playing between them. It was just enough that Lance didn’t notice the continuation of Allura’s presence in his home. Keith didn’t notice his phone had 17 messages from Lotor. They just went into Lance’s room and got high again. They let the smoke be their chosen distraction, the building haze changing their state of mind. It took them a while for Lance to finally speak. 

 

“Keith, truth or... dare?” It took Lance a little longer than usual to find the right words.

 

“Dareee!” Keith said with a rising smile, a heavy haze in his mind already. After all, he didn't get high all that often. 

 

Lance had to think for a moment before he chose a dare. He took another slow breath of the green plant, blowing it out his nose as he finally decided on a dare. “Let me choose what you wear for the next 6 rounds.” Lance smiled

 

“Lance, come on, really?” Keith groaned softly.

 

“Yep!” Lance nodded, standing up and grabbing some random clothes. He threw them to Keith, and as Keith greeted the fabric with another groan Lance smiled. “Give it a chance Keith!”

 

“Why do you even have this? Is it from some girl you brought home who left her clothes?” Keith said flatly.

 

“It’s a mix of that and my sisters’ old clothes.” Lance shrugged. “Put it on!” 

 

Keith shot a deadly look to Lance before getting up and walking to Lance's bathroom. Keith pulled the dark fabrics over his body, double-checking in the mirror that his dick wasn't just hanging out in the wild with the risk of any of Lance's siblings walking in at any point. Keith stepped out of the bathroom, fighting a blush as Lance's shock grew. He could've sworn Lance was slightly turned on too. It's not like Keith hadn't been forced to do it before. 

 

“Now it's your turn to stop staring. Truth or Dare, bitch.” Keith said with as much venom as he could while wearing a little black miniskirt and a mesh black crop-top decorated with little embroidered roses. 

 

“Dare.” Lance smiled. “I'm ready for whatever you want me to do.” 

 

“Let me sit on your lap. It was so fucking comfy.” Keith stopped himself before adding on the fact he couldn't get Lance's lap out of his mind. That would've been bad. 

 

“Alright, not a bad punishment. Truth or dare?” 

 

“Dare. I'm spicy~” Keith said, the high must honestly be getting to him.

 

“I dare you to choose truth next time!” Lance smiled.

 

“Aw, fine. Truth or dare?” Keith tilted his head slightly.

 

“Dare again. I'm bored.” Keith looked off as he thought.

 

“Gah, goblin brain again.” Keith said. 

 

“Oh, please tell me. It should be a rule to say our first ideas.” Lance wiggled his hips between Keith's, a certain feeling waved through Lance, though he didn't care as he was more engrossed in Keith at the moment.

 

“Fine.” Keith sighed. “Do a strip dance.” Keith blushed. 

 

Lance cracked a smile. “Sure.” Keith stepped smoothly off Lance's lap, letting lance slowly rise from his seat. 

 

He moved to a computer on an old desk, pulling up YouTube and clicking a song. It was one of Keith's recent favorites, the one he played when he got ready in the mornings. California, by YUNGBLUD. Lance started with rolling his hips, soon pulling his jacket off letting his biceps move under the fabric. Then came his shirt, a sight Keith wasn't really prepared for, but enjoyed anyways. Now, the song was coming to one of Keith's favorite parts, the only part he would sing along to or dance to. Lance's pants came off, slow. It was like a soft tease. Before Keith could register, he found himself with a small problem, and Lance was done. Rather than Lance turning the song off, he stepped over and started a playlist of songs he downloaded, the atmosphere he left Keith with unable to leave. 

 

“Truth or Dare, Keith?” Lance smirked as he plopped onto the red beanbag, Keith's second favorite seat, right behind Lance's lap of course. 

 

“Da- truth.” Keith sighed, remembering his last dare.

 

“Hmm. Do you know what aftercare is?” Lance asked, yawning as he pulled the forgotten joint to his mouth once more. 

 

“Aftercare? Isn’t that something for kids after school?” Keith tilted his head as he reached for the joint, wanting to keep the dull lull.

 

“I was meaning more in sex. Like, when your partner takes care of you, makes you a meal, makes you really comfy and happy. Especially after something rough. Do you know that?” Lance closed his eyes as his mind imagined Keith doing that to anybody, his mind stuck on an image of Keith slapping someone's butt, for no true reason. 

 

“It's never been done to me if that's what you want to know. Okay, truth or dare?” Keith tried pulling the topic away. 

 

“Ah, hm, dare.” Lance nodded as he said his final answer. 

 

“Let me grind on you?” What the hell was he saying? Sure, Lance had left Keith with a situation, but why did he want to do it back? 

 

Lance shrugged. “Sure. Do whatever to my lap.” Lance would probably regret that later, but for now, Keith hopped back onto Lance's lap, the skirt moving out of the way and leaving them with just their underwear between them. 

 

Lance could only wonder how Keith knew the perfect movements to taunt him as Keith slowly moved his hips. It was so hard to hold back, to not moan. Or even kiss him.

 

“Truth, ahh, truth or dare?” Lance said, a small moan escaping his lips as Keith closed his eyes and kept rubbing. 

 

“Dare.” Keith practically moaned out. At least he was enjoying himself up there, Lance thought. 

 

“I dare you to jack off. So you can fix your little problem there.” Lance unconsciously moved his hand and palmed Keith's moving crotch. The continued movement from Keith didn't help anything, each move back and forwards pressed Lance's hand more or less into the sensitive area, moans quietly leaking from Keith. 

 

“Oh, okay.” Keith said with heavy sighs. He stopped moving his hips and kept his seat on Lance's lap.

 

It was odd, Lance's barren chest just out there for Keith to look at as he pulled the hem of the skirt up. He then moved the band to his tight briefs lower on his hips, letting himself kinda hand out. Keith's eyes closed, Lance's too, as Keith took his hand to himself. Lance slowly let the arousal get to him, finally left in a similar state to Keith. 

 

“Truth or dare, Lance?” Keith said between his small moans, drawing out Lance’s name ever so slightly like it was gold on his tongue.

 

“Dare?” Lance said, his voice posing more of a question rather than a statement. 

 

Keith just took Lance's hand to himself, helping guide Lance up and down his length. It was seriously intimate, Keith was getting close to the end, but he was a bit of a tease to himself. He stopped guiding Lance, letting the whole mood be. 

 

“Keith, I dare you to kiss me.” Lance fumbled through his words as Keith opened his eyes.

 

“Okay?” Lance crashed his lips to Keith's.

 

Lance let his hand run up and down Keith's thigh, teasing the poor boy who was on the verge of that happy release. Lance slowly slid his thumb over the top, his mouth watering slightly into Keith's as they kissed. Lance brought his hand down the whole length and picked up an insane speed making Keith come near-instantly. 

 

“Fuck, Lance~” He moaned out as he hit his high. “Let me do something for you.” Keith spoke softly, his breath heavy, mouth watering at the thought of his next action. Lance nodded.

 

Keith looked up to Lance as he fell to the ground, pulling Lance out and kissing his now revealed length. They were very similar in length, but Lance's had a certain width that Keith couldn't help but love. He licked his lips and placed them on the top, expertly moving down and up, earning moans of praise from Lance. Keith knew what he did best, no matter the position he was thrown into, he knew his talents. It wasn't long until Lance was like putty in his hands, a pure, handsome mess. Lance's eyes kept closing as Keith threw Lance's length all the way down, again and again. Keith brought his hand to Lance’s mouth, silently signaling to him he should suck on them. Lance obliged through moans, a small bit of drool leaving his mouth as he sucked on Keith's fingers, imagining it as something else. Keith's left hand helped guide Lance's length and his right trailed off to pull the hem of Lance's briefs low enough to leave his bottom exposed as Keith slowly slid a small finger in. 

 

“Fuck, Keith. You're so fucking amazing at this. I'm not sure I can really handle much more.” Lance half-moaned.

 

Keith smirked and threw another two fingers in, moving them in sync with his mouth. Lance was true to his word and came soon after, his eyes closing and sleep finally wafting down to claim the boy. 

 

“God Keith. I think I love you…” Lance trailed softly as he pulled Keith into his bed, entangling him in his arms. 

 

||○●○||

 

Sunlight cast heavily into Lance's eyes, the light burning his eyes as he opened them. His body was cold as he laid there, the blanket shoved to the floor, his clothes and a mess of things strewn about. It was a perfect view of the mess they made last night. Once Lance could, he gathered the energy to sit up and swing his feet off the mattress. He still hadn't gotten used to the new bed frame and box spring height, which became apparent as he stumbled to the ground in attempts at leaving the comfort of sleep. Scrambling to get up, he pulled on a pair of boxers and some clothes to appear at least partially decent. 

 

“Keith…” he mumbled slowly, casting his gaze over the large area. Nothing moved, nobody was there.

 

Lance felt his heart sink. It was the day Keith had to go home. What if Keith left without saying goodbye? What did last night mean to Keith? Lance started picking up the pace as the sleepy lull left him and the fear of not saying something, anything to Keith pumped through his veins. He kept up the stairs and walked swiftly to the kitchen, his long legs making the journey seem a little easier. As he reached the kitchen he heard silence as a heavy scent of breakfast wafted through. Lance turned the corner and, there was Keith, standing perfectly as he dropped the last egg onto the plate, his bag hung on his shoulder, clothes for the day already on. 

 

“Keith?” Lance barely spoke. 

 

“You said yesterday how I need to cook a meal myself.” Keith looked away from Lance and to the floor, tugging on his sleeve. “I- I made myself useful since I won't be back until tomorrow.” 

 

Lance's heart beat in his ears, a heavy thudding. It was the only noise for a while. “Keith, about-”

 

“It's fine. It didn't mean anything. I know the routine.” Keith couldn't look at Lance, His face looked back at him every time Keith tried. 

 

The same old voice Keith knew too well rang in his ears. ‘Just leave.’ He heard.

 

“Keith… Please, just eat with me.” Lance said, pulling himself close, too close. 

 

Lance laid his hand onto Keith's shoulder. Keith quickly shoved it off, the doorbell ringing moments after. 

 

“That's probably for me. I have to leave now.” Keith said. Did he have to say that, like he was narrating his own life? He pondered as he started walking to the door.

 

He reached to the silver doorknob, twisting it and pushing the pale blue door open. There was a small package placed by the door, but Keith didn't say anything. He had to walk anyways. So he did. He walked out of the house, down the street, and into the trees. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... more not child-safe content. I'd recommend to look away and just, not read this book if you are not one who likes this kind of stuff. Thanks. Also sorry for the delay.

After the terrible morning, terrible breakfast, and looking forwards to what seemed like an overall terrible day, Lance pulled up his tumblr account and started scrolling. Quickly enough he came across the newest blog he followed, Keith's. Lance easily found himself snooping around on Keith’s account, the organized tags catching his eye. He saw one for knives, one for fire, and one that read “shut the fuck up ke”, which sparked his interest until the most important tag came up. “Fuck you for making me like you” tag, it was filled with romantic things, cute things, overall just gay things. Lance went back to his normal feed, things his sister followed flooding the page, though he did always liked some of the cuter posts and was always up for a good kitty or puppy. Lance found himself reblogging some gay posts as he scrolled through, tagging them with some variation of Keith's name. It didn't take long for him to find a recipe for easy quiches, something he mindlessly sent to Keith with a small comment of, “breakfast was terrible. You should try a recipe next time.” With that, he closed his phone and got up to clean the dishes. It was Sunday, the day Mama made them all go to church, church obligation day. As Lance kept cleaning, he felt a soft buzz from his jacket pocket. 

 

Lance dried the final pan and put it away before reaching into his pocket and fish in out his phone, trying hard to not pull anything else out. He had gotten a response from Keith. “Thanks bitch.” 

 

Lance let his fingers fly over the keyboard. “You're welcome Mullet.” He then shot a quick “Text me.” before closing out of Tumblr. He threw his phone back into the depths of his pockets and head down to his room. He pulled some clothes out of the antique wardrobe his grandma made them keep, the age shown on the wearing stain on a reddish wood. Lance had pulled out a nice blue and white button up shirt and a pair of jeans that everybody thought were dress pants, though that could be further from what they were. He then proceeded to pull out his nice shoes, black, and combed his hair back before putting on his usual mess of face creams and cleaners. He tried to look nice for Church Obligation day. When he threw on his usual jacket, Lance rifled through the pocket to retrieve the phone, Keith’s contact the first one to appear on his screen. 

 

**Keefy: Why did you want me to text?**

Lance: Truth or dare!

**Keefy: Really?**

**Keefy: Does this game even have an end?**

Lance: I don’t know, people just stop after long enough. 

Lance: So truth or dare?

**Keefy: Truth, i guess.**

**Keefy: How are we supposed to do dares anyways?**

Lance: I’ll show you next round. 

Lance: Why did you leave this morning?

 

Keith had to take a step back from his phone. 40 minutes after, and Lance was already asking. Why did he leave anyways? Was it because he doesn’t want to overstay his welcome? Probably not because Lance wasn’t Lotor, though the thought was still in Keith’s mind. He took a deep breath before his response. 

 

**Keefy: I dunno.**

**Keefy: Truth or Dare?**

Lance: Dare…

**Keefy: Okokok, i dare u 2 steal something from Keisha’s room.**

 

Lance smirked. Whatever made Keith text so oddly, had to be good. But for now he turned the camera of his phone on, making sure flash was off, and he made his way up the stairs. He started a recording, recording his feet as he walked to her room and entered, luckily she wasn’t present and he could steal a small ukulele, bringing the object back into his room. He ended the recording as he re-entered his room, sending the short video off to Keith. 

 

**Keefy: Oh… videos and pics. I get it.**

Lance: Yea. Truth or dare?

**Keefy: Dare**

Lance: I dare you to… put a pillowcase on your face.

**Keefy: I’m kinda leaving the home right now.**

Lance: Why??

**Keefy: we’re obligated to go to church.**

Lance: Oh same here. Probably different curches thenn

**Keefy: Don’t you mean *Churches?**

Lance: I’m still holding the uke. It’s hard to text while holding an instrument.

**Keefy: Then give me a dare I can do.**

Lance: Fineeeeee, Uhh, put your foot in someone’s face. 

Lance: Let’s hope whoever you do that to doesn’t have a foot fetish. 

**Keefy: Ok.**

 

Keith sent a video of his combat boot pushed up to some girl’s face, while they were sitting on something resembling a school bus. The girl looked a few years younger than Keith and Lance, but probably out of elementary school. She had a short brown bob with blunt bangs, a very bisexual haircut, but Lance knew better than to judge. 

 

Lance: Who’s that?

**Keefy: Ali, roommate at the home.**

Lance: Ah.

**Keefy: Truth or dare?**

Lance: Dare, again. 

**Keefy: Yay, I was hoping you would.**

**Keefy: I dare you to play something on the uke.**

 

Lance propped his phone on some surface, starting to record as he moved to a seat and played “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You” since that was the only song he had memorized on the ukulele. Once he finished, he stopped the recording and went in immediately to edit, cropping out the beginning and end so it looked like it was somebody else recording. He got it sent off just as Mama called down the stairs, saying it was time to go to church, probably the only religious thing that his family did.

 

||○●○||

 

Both boys ended up not texting for the full allotted church time. Other than the fact Keith snuck his phone in and sent a bunch of texts saying he loved the video, though he didn’t watch it. Once Lance could finally get back on, Keith was pulled to socialize with the elderly ladies who tried giving him dating advice on how he should date Ali, once again. Ever since he had to come out to the home, the church felt like they were up his ass trying to set him up with a “nice girl” who always ended up also being gay, or someone he didn’t care to know, and very often his younger roommate. No matter what, it was terrible. The night would bring even worse things, but as Keith resigned himself to be doomed, he finally got away, to the bathroom stalls, but still away. Lance wasn’t on, again. 

 

||○●○||

 

Lance got swept up in all the kids, taking care of them, teaching. It was what he did. Lance helped at the church and had to stay until the next service to leave. Mama was just happy he was a part of the church for more than just attendance. Lance got a full five minutes to check the messages, sending back a few of his own, watching as Keith had to leave mere moments before he could shoot a reply. It was tough. Were long-distance relationships like this? Never really being able to get a conversation going because you’re always busy. Whatever it may be like, it felt like torture. They were always so close, nearly there, and yet it was never quite the right moment. Worse than a papercut with lemon juice. 

 

||○●○||

 

Lance: This is torture. I wish you were with meee. 

Lance: A little kid shoved a crayon up her nose now. 

Lance: This little boy started hugging an eggplant

Lance: update on eggplant boy, he sat down for storytime and left the eggplant in his lap

Lance: It’s a 6 inch eggplant

Lance: I miss you, Ke

 

||○●○||

 

**Keefy: Oh wow, eggplant boy may be gayyy**

**Keefy: Ali is trying to scarf an entire plate of cookies**

**Keefy: One of the elder ladies tried setting me up with her 27 year old daughter**

**Keefy: I miss you too, Lance.**

**Keefy: I guess i missed a date that the elders signed me up for without telling me?**

**Keefy: Is it your fault if you didnt know it was even happening?**

 

||○●○||

 

Lance: When does your service get out?

Lance: Mama is making us stay an extra service now :((

Lance: Keisha brought a flask and spiked the hot coco

Lance: Oh my god, Veronica got drunk

Lance: Shit, i drank some of the spiked coco

Lance: It tastes rlly good though

Lance: On my 3rd cup!!!!!!!!

 

||○●○||

 

**Keefy: Stoppppppp the spiked coco**

**Keefy: unless you send me someee**

**Keefy: Imma spike the juice next week now**

**Keefy: 3rd setup today**

**Keefy: She’s a carbon-copy blonde, your type!!**

**Keefy: I wanna set you up but ill be a bit jelous**

**Keefy: Because you get to turn her down instead of me.**

**Keefy: Oh please turn her down harshlyyyyyy**

 

||○●○||

 

Lance: Turns out after my first cup they changed the coco

Lance: it was saddd

Lance: When else should you get drunkkk?

Lance: I mean, it was fun, but, sadly dissapointing

Lance: we should get drunkkkkkkkkkkk tomorroww

Lance: Or, something else again.. Heheh >:)

 

||○●○||

 

**Keefy: Oh dear…**

**Keefy: I dunno, let’s see what happens tomorrow**

**Keefy: I swear Ali is out to kill me.**

**Keefy: She was swinging her knife around and nearly stabbed me**

**Keefy: I knew she would never understand the knife how I do**

**Keefy: ...now she’s trying to scarf down an entire platter of lasagna**

**Keefy: Who the hell brings lasagna to church?**

**Keefy: It’s kinda boring without you…**

**Keefy: See you tomorrow…**

 

Lance looked as his phone buzzed, the last text Keith sent lighting the entire screen. At least Keith promised to come back. Before Lance could be left to himself for too long, Keisha barged into the bathroom. 

 

“Lance! Allura finally arrived. Now the party can really start, she brought another flask!” With that, Keisha was out.

 

Lance sighed and closed his phone. Keith had said goodbye anyways, plus there wasn’t really much else to talk about. He stepped out of the stall and threw his phone back into the pocket, quickly washing his hands and leaving to see this new scene. Once he entered the main area, he saw Keisha rip the flask from Allura’s uncertain fingers and begin pouring some likely alcoholic liquid into all of the different drinks. Coffee? Spiked. Tea/ hot water? Spiked. Mystery juice of the day? It probably was alcoholic anyways, but still spiked. New batch of coco? Oh, that one got all the rest of the alcoholic liquid. Allura moved towards Lance as Keisha went on her little rampage. 

 

“Does she always do this?” Allura asked before adding on, “I mean, this is the first time she invited me to church. I find it hard to ever say no to her.” Allura sighed. “She is quite indescribably amazing, don’t you agree Lance?” 

 

“She is. In some odd, dark, twisted way, she is.” Lance nodded, not letting his eyes drift off from his twin. If only twin telepathy were a real thing.

 

“So Lance, have you told your family about you and Keith? Keisha was saying you guys were supposed to be working on a project for the week, and when she came in to talk to you, she caught you two kissing. I’m sure they would understand if their son is gay.” Allura piped up gently. 

 

“We- I wasn’t planning saying anything until it is, official. Okay? I am also very much not gay. I like girls, a ton.” Lance said awkwardly. He was trying to drop the idea of him and Keith, by not mentioning, as he found himself trying to seem straighter for Allura. Maybe pretending to be straighter was a better idea for church instead of just Allura. 

 

“Oh, I get it. I’m going through the same thing.” Allura smiled and waved over to Keisha as Lance closed his eyes and sighed. Lance submitted himself to forever be questioned in his relationship with Keith unless they were to start dating, which is something Lance signed himself to expect disappointment on. 

 

Lance forced a small smile. “Oh, you’re dating someone? Who?”

 

Allura laughed and smiled with a small sigh. “You’ll figure it out, one day. I’m sure Keisha would tell you something about it a little too soon.”

 

“Oh, yeah, you two are really becoming good friends right?” Lance smiled as Allura let out a small sigh. 

 

“Sure. You could say that.” She smiled. “Alright, I should go make sure Keisha doesn’t do anything too terrible.” Lance chuckled with Allura as she waved and started to walk away. 

 

Lance stepped to an empty chair in the cathedral, taking a quick seat and closing his eyes again. His mind pulled up the memory of the night before, with Keith’s little smirk. God, how Lance loved Keith’s little glances. He was unforgettable, he did something that Lance knew he would never feel anything quite as good. Maybe it was partially his high, but damn, it was beautiful. Keith was beautiful. Still, not something he should think about in a church. 

 

||○●○||

 

Keith's phone was taken away. The first time ever, and he was found out by that stupid kid, Jack. He always sought after getting Keith in trouble. Stupid Jack. Keith hated Jack, at least right now. Right now Keith faced talking to Ms. Rejic, and having to ask for his phone back. He was a troublemaker, sure, but there was never a problem when he texted too much. Plus, after his phone was taken, he was allowed to text goodbye and that's all. No explanation, no reason, no way to tell Lance. 

 

“Alright everybody, time to line up. Remember to make two lines and stand next to your roommate and in order of age please.” Ms. Rejic called out to the majority of kids. As he always did, being one of the eldest, he had to stand in the back.

 

“Keith, rumor has it, you and Lance are married!” Ali whispered happily. 

 

“We aren't married. We are not dating. We are not together.” Keith said flatly, eyeing Jack in the row. 

 

“Oh, then who were you trying to text so diligently?” Ali smiled, she knew Keith well enough that it was either his teacher, or Lance because there was nobody else who Keith would think to text. 

 

“Lance, alright?” Keith said sharply. 

 

“Oh, so, you guys totally aren't fallen in love~” She sang sweetly.

 

“Nobody said anything about love. That's different.” Keith shrugged, moving his gaze back to the girl. 

 

“Really? So, if you're in love, you don't always date?” she cocked her head to the side, the lines starting to move. 

 

“Not all the time, sometimes the relationship is one-sided. So only one person loves the other and the other may not love them at all.” Keith let his own words sink in. 

 

“What if neither of you know the other person is in love too? What do you do then?”

 

“Either be brave and make the first move, or stay friends forever. Until somebody moves on to another girl, possibly their princess, to live happily ever after.” 

 

“And what about you? The person who fell in love but didn't get over it?” The voice seemed to be fading from Ali’s and into his own thoughts and questions.

 

“You'll get over it, one day. Or live the rest of your life regretting you never made a move, and end up with the wrong person never being able to get out.” Keith had to stop. When did it go from him saying what he knew to this? He was practically calling himself out, but it hit something inside of him. 

 

As he climbed the bus, as he sat down, as he nodded along to Ali's nonsense, he couldn't get it out of his mind. Keith had to make the first move, he had to break it with Lotor, and tonight was the best time to do it. 

 

||○●○||

 

Lance: Oh, uh, bye then?

Lance: Tomorrow, Right?

Lance: You know, I saw a really pretty knife and thought of you.

Lance: because of the knife, you know?

Lance: it was red, but shifted to blue depending on what direction you looked at it

Lance: sadly they couldn't remember where they got it. 

Lance: the children are calling, I should go…

Lance: I hope you're getting these and I'm not texting into the void

Lance: bye, Keith…

 

||○●○||

 

Keith finally got his phone back, 1 lecture session later. 9 messages, all left on read because Ms. Rejic had read them. So nice of her. Keith quickly hopped into his room and scrolled through the messages, playing Lance's video. 

 

Lance was seated on the beanbag, expertly playing some chords. It was a song Keith recognized slightly. Then Lance started to sing.

 

_ “Wise man say, only fools rush in. But I can't help, falling in love with you.” _ Keith was stricken, a hit to the heart. It felt like Lance was singing to him, for him.

 

As the video played, Keith felt the veil lift again. It was the same heart-melting moment all over again. Keith missed the feeling. It wasn't even dinner and he missed Lance. Like Lance was a drug and he could only want more. More of Lance's smile, his idiocy, even his cooking. Keith was hooked on someone who he didn't even know liked him back.  

 

He was ready for something, anything. Keith just wanted to know.He wanted to know if he should, if it would be worth it. Honestly, he knew it would be worth it if he did no matter what, but now, maybe he'd have an okay reason to do so. A simple text, four words, and whatever the response, it would determine Keith's future, his life.

 

**Keefy: Do you like me?**

 

||○●○||

 

Lance looked over the message again. The words “Do you like me?”circling his thoughts. What could that possibly mean? Lance's head ran with every different scenario, every different interpretation he could think of. Maybe this would be the one thing he didn't fuck up today. 

 

Lance: I do. More than I used to I guess.

 

Simple, sent, done. Next, all Lance had to do was wait. He hoped it sounded right, he hoped it would maybe, just maybe, do something good for him. 

 

||○●○||

 

Keith scanned over Lance's text, his mind running with thoughts, questions he didn't care ask, answers he hoped weren't true. Then he sent his reply. 

 

**Keefy: How much?**

 

Keith started to bite a pencil, his bed no longer feeling inviting as he waited. He just wanted to get up and pace around the room but Ali wouldn’t allow it.

 

||○●○||

 

Lance sighed, he hadn't gained a single clue, but felt like he had to continue. 

 

Lance: Probably less than Mama likes you, but fairly close.

 

Platonic? Romantic? Brotherly? Who the hell knew other than Keith who had a thick enough skull to not tell which. 

 

||○●○||

 

“Really, Lance, really?” Keith mumbled softly aloud. 

 

“What did you say Keith?” Ali asked, tilting her head gently as she plopped onto her bed, the pale comforter wrinkling around where she sat. 

 

“Nothing important…” Keith trailed softly, fighting the feeling of his cheeks heating up. 

 

“Okay, but if you were coming out saying you were cheating on your boyfriend, I’d be okay with that. I promise I’ll tell only five or twelve people.” She smiled, Keith looking up at her and shooting a quick glare. 

 

“Why do you guys think I’m dating  _ him _ ? He just, comes around often.” He took a nervous swallow. 

 

“‘You guys’? Who else said that?”

 

“Uh, Lance. I guess it doesn’t matter anyways so-”

 

“Do you like Lance? Like, like like.” Ali interrupted as she cracked a small evil smile while Keith fought to keep himself level-headed. 

 

“I- Maybe but I- I don’t think he likes me the same way. So it doesn’t matter.” Keith tried to shrug it off and act casually, though it was an honestly hard thing to do. 

 

“He probably thinks you’re loyal to, you know, and probably doesn’t want to be the one who fucks a taken guy.” Keith rolled his eyes. 

 

“I don’t think that would stop him from fucking anyone. He’s probably fucked some married woman accidentally. I mean, seventeen is a fucking huge number for a seventeen year old.” Keith chuckled to himself gently as he remembered that first day.

 

“Well, you’re one to talk, you’ve been going out almost every night for the past two years, and not coming back for a good while. I’m sure you get up to something most of those nights.” Ali wiggled her eyebrows jokingly. 

 

“Not every night… And only for the last year, with- okay maybe two-ish years, but it’s not that bad!” 

 

“So how many times have you done… it?”

 

“God, you’re a child. I don’t think you need to be involved with that part of my life.”

 

“That seems to be most of your life, Ke. That, working out, and whatever you do at school.” Keith thought on it for a moment. It was a good chunk of what he did nowadays. “So, how many times, just tell your bestest friend, me!”

 

“Don’t call me Ke. And, fine, probably somewhere around 100 times.” Keith shrugged. He tried to forget it most of the time. 

 

“Only 100? After nearly two years?”

 

“Ugh. It’s just an estimate. I’ve got bigger things to worry about.” Keith gave a long sigh and looked over the text. 

 

Maybe Ali did have a point. Maybe, just maybe, Lance was holding back from anything serious because of Lotor. So Keith had a choice. Either he could take a chance on Lance, or keep this terrible thing with Lotor. After just three days, why chance it on Lance? Keith pondered on the question. It was such a short time, though they did have a history of friendship, plus the history Lance made up. They did have an ever-growing bond, one that it felt neither could deny. But Lotor had dirt, all the dirt on Keith. Though the more Keith did with Lotor, the more dirt he got against himself. Lotor was one of the worst lose-lose situations. Though, Keith knew he had wasted nearly two years with this man, he had wasted so much time being afraid to leave, he had to leave. 

 

**Keefy: Hey, Lance. Lotor and I are done.**

Lance: What? What are you going to do?

**Keefy: I’m going to stop living in fear of that ass. Thanks, Lance.**

Lance: ??????????????

 

||○●○||

 

Lance twiddled his thumbs as they hovered over the keyboard. He was scared for what Keith was going to do, of what he was planning. He was scared what Lotor would do. Lotor had power with just his  _ name _ . He was the son of Zarkon and Honerva, or Haggar as she wanted to be called recently. Lotor was the son of the principal of the school, and son of a teacher. He could say anything, and it would spread and be acted upon like a wildfire. If he said one bad thing about Keith, Keith could face suspension. Lotor had power, and he knew how to use it. He was evil, the oldest student in the school, and the most powerful bully. Lance knew Keith was screwed by Lotor in many more ways than just one. 

 

||○●○||

 

Lance: Hey Pidge. Yo. 

**Green Gremlin: Yea**

Lance: Can you do something for me?

**Green Gremlin: What’s in it for me?**

Lance: Anything. I just want you to do this. 

**Green Gremlin: are you okay? You typically say something stupid and shitty like, “My happiness”**

Lance: I just want you to do your thing and stalk on one of our friends, and record what he does tonight. Ok?

**Green Gremlin: uwu well then I’ll demand I can take your switch games for a week.**

Lance: Okay, sure, so you’ll do it?

**Green Gremlin: I need to know who, but yea, at that price I’d do it**

**Green Gremlin: so who am I stalking and recording?**

Lance: Keith

 

||○●○||

 

Keith stared at his phone for a moment. 

 

**Keefy: Truth or Dare?**

Lance: Uhh. Dare.

**Keefy: I dare you to….**

**Keefy: Write a song**

Lance: What? That’s a little hardddd

**Keefy: Oh, I know. Still.**

Lance: Fine then. Truth or dare Ke

**Keefy: Don’t call me Ke**

Lance: Oh alright, truth or dare tho

**Keefy: dare**

Lance: I dare you to…

**Keefy: You aren’t stumped, are you?**

Lance: No, just, taking a while to type. 

**Keefy: Sure, sure**

Lance: Shut your quiznack mullet

**Keefy: How much time have you been spending with Coran, Lance?**

Lance: Let me just send you a dare

**Keefy: Then hurry up and send one**

Lance: Uh, you should prank-call Shiro

**Keefy: How? He has my number in his phone? He’d know it’s me so fucking quick.**

Lance: Fine. I’ll let you off on that one since i dont know how your phone works. 

**Keefy: Oh wow, I get to skip out on a dare**

Lance: But instead, you should help me write that song. 

**Keefy: Fine. How can I help though?**

Lance: hm… what’s your favorite color, what’s one beautiful thing in nature, and the first word you can think of?

**Keefy: How is this helping?**

Lance: Just answerrrrr

**Keefy: fine. Red, and i guess blue is cool too. Uh… a rainbow? Becuase it’s natural gay pride? And pain?????**

Lance: wow, you’re dark. I’ll probably get Keisha to help me the rest of the way. Thanks for, whatever that was Keith. 

**Keefy: I still don’t know what the hell that did but okay**

Lance: You’ll see

**Keefy: Alright then**

Lance: Imma do that. Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

**Keefy: Are you trying to flaunt your sexuality or did you forget how to spell bye**

Lance: ….Shushyourfaceidiotmulletboy

 

Keith closed his eyes and laughed. He could imagine the look on Lance’s face, his nose all wrinkled, eyes squeezed shut, and his arms crossed. Keith knew it would look fairly cute, like a puppy who’s trying to look vicious even though it’s a 7 inch ball of poofy fur. 

 

||○●○||

 

Lance sighed. Sure, Keith did help the song come along, but his help may resign to just the first line. He looked at the little book, only a few lines written sofar. He tried to think of what to write, what he would write if he wasn’t being forced to do this. Then Keith entered his thoughts. Keith, the inescapable boy. It felt like they went into their own world, created it, and Lance couldn’t leave. He opened his eyes, as the inspiration struck. His hand started pulling the pencil over the page, inspiration pouring through as words flowed down. It was finished. Not quite the whole song, but at least the lyrics. 

 

“Keisha!” Lance yelled up the stairs, hoping she was finally home.

 

“Yeah, Lance? Need something down there?” She responded, opening the door. 

 

“I need you to help me make something for Keith.” He said, turning his head to the direction of his sister. He heard her stumble down a few stairs before finally replying. 

 

“I’ll be down!” Sure enough, she was down the stairs and walking to Lance. 

 

“Hi, Keisha. Okay, so I have some lyrics and an instrument. Help me make a song.” He showed her the page. 

 

“Why are you writing Keith a song? You in love or something?” Lance stayed quiet as she read the lyrics. “Or did he break up with you before he left this morning?”

 

“It’s a dare. This is all I can think of for lyrics. Just... help me make it sound okay.” Keisha chuckled to herself. 

 

“Okay, little brother.” She smiled. 

 

“I’m barely younger than you! When the whole family is over, you still need to sit at the kids table.” Lance joked. 

 

“I only do it to save your pride.” She threw him a smile. 

 

“Okay, let’s just try and make this sound like a decent song.” Lance pulled her a chair, the two starting to labor over this paper, plucking and strumming a few notes here and there.

 

Once they were done, Lance couldn’t believe they whipped such a masterpiece in almost 15 minutes. He knew it wasn’t the best song ever written, but it sounded decent enough to satisfy the dare. 

 

“Is that all you need my 7-minutes-younger brother?” She smiled as she stood from the plush chair. 

 

“Can I use your room to record it?” 

 

“My room? Why?”

 

“Because of that one wall with the blanket and fairy lights attached to it.” She sighed and agreed. She couldn’t say no because Lance had a point, it was the perfect backdrop for the song he wrote. 

 

||○●○||

 

Keith smiled as he saw a new notification finally pop up on his phone. It was, of course, from Lance. Finally Keith had gotten the video of a song Lance made. Keith opened it onto his small screen, his eyes immediately drawn to the string of lights that hung behind Lance, illuminating him from behind. The dark background made the phone adjust to be brighter, Lance's tanned skin looked paler than usual. Finally, Lance began to sing. 

 

_ “My darling _ _   
_ _ You never can fail me _ _   
_ _ Looking for a rainbow _ _   
_ _ In a sea of pain _ _   
_ _ I can never escape  _ _   
_ _ This world that we have made _ _   
_ _ A world of reds and blues _ _   
_ _ Let us become something new _ _   
_ _ A whole new shade with you _ _   
_ _ Even when you’re gone _ _   
_ _ I can still miss you _ _   
_ _ Even when you’re far away _ _   
_ _ I can still feel you _ _   
_ _ In my heart and in my mind _ _   
_ _ Can I ever leave your side? _ _   
_ _ I can never escape _ _   
_ _ This world that we have made _ _   
_ _ A world of reds and blues _ _   
_ _ Let us become something new _ _   
_ _ A whole new shade with you _ _   
_ _ Brilliantly standing bright _ _   
_ _ I will stay alone tonight _ _   
_ _ From blue to purple _ _   
_ _ Only for you _ _   
_ _ My darling shade of red _ _   
_ _ I can never escape _ _   
_ _ This world we have made _ _   
_ _ A world of reds and blues _ _   
_ _ Let us become something new _ _   
_ _ A whole new shade with you _ _   
_ __ A world of purple made with you”

 

Keith was still for a moment, his mind wrapping around the lyrics and what they could mean. He knew for one, that Lance definitely went with something Keith had said. But there was still some lyrics that felt, odd to Keith.Odd as to why say that to Keith? He took a deep breath and sat down. The day was nearing a long-overdue close and he was ready for the evening to come. 

 

||○●○||

 

Lance sat on his bed, scrolling through the latest updates on his instagram, a text popping up on the top of his screen. 

 

**Unknown Number: Hey lance, i was wondering if you want to go out tonight. I’m free if you are 💕💞💕**

Lance: Who are you again?

**Unknown Number: I’m Kai.**

Lance: Oh hey babe~ sorry I didn’t have your number in my phone yet.

**Kai: That’s ok. So uh, you free tonight?**

Lance: Yeah, want to hang at my place?

**Kai: Sure! I’d love to~**

Lance: Maybe we can have some fun tonight

**Kai: Yes please 🍆🍑**

 

Lance looked back down at his messages. He couldn’t get Keith off his mind, nor did he even want to that much. He sighed to himself and closed his eyes, the memory of Keith stirring with ideas of the evening to come made him get hard, and fast. Soon enough his eyes were closed, his hand doing nothing near what Keith’s mouth could do. He peeked an eye open, and landed on Keith’s flannel, strewn to the floor. Instinctively he grabbed it, wrapping part of the sleeve around himself, his mind molding the feeling with his imagination. He imagined Keith sitting on his knees, looking up at Lance as he held him in his fabric-covered hand. Keith, the imaginary one, licked his lips and pressed them at the tip, dragging down slowly and beautifully. He used his hand to pump what he couldn’t fit in his mouth and popped off beautifully. Which, Lance was a slut for, coming at just the thought. The shirt had gotten some of the splash and Lance hadn’t enough care to do much more than throw the flannel to the floor.

 

After cleaning himself up, Lance found himself entering the small office in the corner of his room. Probably was a room that should’ve been his closet, but instead he made it his haven from the casual mess of his room. He looked to the small grey bookshelf, his fingers traced over the bindings of the books. Looking at them, he thought to himself for a moment, how in most of the books, once there is a part two, that always means the turning point for incredible pain. He picked one of the books up, the oldest of the bunch, and flipped to the second part. That was his plan for the evening until Kai came. 

 

||○●○||

 

Keith leaned forewords, his head hanging outside the window as he waited for Lotor to come. Keith had on his black leather jacket, an early gift from Ali for his last birthday. Safely tucked on an inside pocket was his knife, the one he carried everywhere, the one everybody knew he carried everywhere with him. 

 

“Ke, get down here.” Lotor’s smooth voice said, a small part of Keith falling at the sound. It was happening, this was real. 

 

“I’ll be down, Lotor.” Keith made his way out the window, hopping down to the ground, soft grass cushioning his fall. 

 

Lotor looked up and down Keith, a small smirk playing on his lips. “It’s been too long, Ke. Way to long.”

 

Keith forced a small smile. “Let’s get going. I need to get back before they get suspicious.”

 

“We’ve never had that problem before?” Lotor eyed Keith questioningly, his head tilting to the side. “Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

 

Keith groaned, internally rolling his eyes. “Well before, I haven’t had to stay at somebody’s house for 3 days before.”

 

“Fine. Let’s get going.” Lotor said, and with a flip of his hair, they were off to the usual spot. 

 

Keith always knew Lotor would be the one to be heard, to make the final decision, so when they arrived, it was Keith’s turn. When Lotor spared no time, pressing himself into Keith, smashing their lips together without a sense of doubt. Shoveling his tongue in, forcing control. Keith pushed him off. 

 

“What the hell, Ke?” Lotor spat at Keith. 

 

“I didn’t want to do this. Can we talk?” 

 

“Let’s talk later. Remember, I know your secrets. I can make you hurt.”

 

“Just shut up for once, Lotor, you selfish, arrogant prick. I wanted to tell you I’m  _ done _ . This,” Keith gestured to himself and Lotor, “is over.” 

 

“Shut the fuck up, Ke. I know you want it. You’re probably just emotional. You’ll want me.” He sent Keith a small cocky smirk. “Even then, I can tell everybody what I know. All those videos, photos, everything will be out.” 

 

“That doesn’t fucking matter!’ Keith pulled the dagger hastily out of his jacket, the satin lining tearing as the blade was ripped from the pocket. 

 

Keith pushed Lotor’s back to the wall, holding him down with one hand, and positioning the knife to Lotor’s throat. “Are you joking? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Lotor spat to Keith, his breath heavy.

 

“Just,” Keith broke eye contact for a moment, taking a deep breath, “If you try anything, you will be the one hurting. I swear that I will fucking cut you with this knife, if you pull any shit on me. Got it?”

 

Lotor shifted his eyes, Keith pressing the blade a little heavier to Lotor’s skin. “Fine.” Keith slid the blade down, crating a light cut, one just deep enough to leave a scar.

 

“Goodbye, Lotor.” Keith then turned on his heels and walked away, a small bit of blood smudging into the ruined lining of his jacket as he placed the knife back into the pocket. 

 

Pidge stood in shock, their phone shaking slightly as it recorded the cast-aside Lotor and the last few seconds of Keith. They stopped the recording and turned to run away. Lance needed to know. 

 

||○●○||

 

“Lance, babe. We are alone…” Kai trailed her fingers over the soft comforter. “Maybe we could…”

 

Lance faced the wall, his mind playing the idea, the memory of Keith over and over. He felt his body float, tingle even, at the thought of Keith in his bed again instead of Kai. Lance turned and smiled at the girl.She truly was a beautiful girl, amazing, probably kind and sweet, everything he thought he wanted. At least before Keith. She probably would be his girlfriend by the end of the night, but instead, Lance wanted Keith. 

 

“Babe?” Kai tilted her head, her hair falling just perfectly. 

 

“Yeah. Let’s do it.” Kai smiled and saw the flannel on the floor.

 

“What’s this?” She smiled, picking it up. 

 

“A flannel, my flannel.” He lied, he asked himself for a moment, why he lied. 

 

Kai smiled and pulled it around herself. “Can I wear it?”

 

“The entire time?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Uhh, sure.”

 

She started to advance on him, moving onto him. He closed his eyes from the pure pleasure, his mind playing Keith's face, his body. The person on him wasn't Kai, she was now Keith. They fumbled around for a while, the fabric of the flannel bringing the feeling into him. 

 

“Oh god, you're so amazing, Keith.” He moaned as he came a little too early.

 

Lance regretted a lot of the fourth day. Both boys did, soon enough.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken so long. I plan to release more soon! Thanks for sticking with and enjoy the next part.

Morning felt like it couldn't come soon enough. 

 

Lance shifted, guilt weighing onto his mind heavily as he awaited Keith's arrival. He had gotten Kai out of his room as soon as he could, only because the few lengthy moments after he said Keith's name, and made a huge mistake, it was awkward. So she left, he washed the stupid flannel, and went to bed. He didn't want the day to go on any longer. 

 

Keith fidgeted with the sleeve of his jacket, his favorite jacket. He felt guilty, heavy and wrong after that night. Keith just wanted to ignore the whole subject of those few missing hours. It wasn't like it could possibly turn back and be useful, ever. Death threats would never be useful. Nearing the door, Keith felt his heart pound heavy in his chest, the beat of blood pulsing loud in his ears. With every step, drawing nearer to the house, to Lance, the louder his heart became. Then the door swung open, and it was silent but warm. 

 

Keith looked deep into the blue of Lance's eyes, dimmer than he remembered. The soft warmth of Lance's arms around his torso sent him flying, flying to a distant land. He was okay, everything was okay.

 

||○●○||

 

Keith and Lance were joint at the hip all day, pushing closer together every chance they had. Both boys held a deep sense of guilt, so when Keith was called to the principal's office by Lotor himself, they both began to sweat profusely. 

 

It felt harder than normal for Keith to walk up there, like he had a magnet to Lance that would not relinquish. Every step nearing felt heavier, as though the magnetic pull was straining against his free will to see the man of the hour. As the door swung open, it snapped as he stepped in. There was nothing.

 

“Keith, do you know why I called you to my office?” Principal Zarkon said in a deep and uninterested voice.

 

“No?” Keith chewed the inside of his lip as he waited to hear the reason he was pulled from class and into the principal’s office. Lance had been odd all morning, Pidge was avoiding them both, and Allura was once more missing from their usual morning set-up. He couldn't help but wonder if any of them had something to do with the situation he was fallen in. 

 

“Do you carry a weapon on you while at school?” Lotor smiled at his father's words.

 

“Where did you hear that?”

 

“My son, Lotor,” he spat, as if admitting Lotor was his son was the single worst thing to admit before continuing, “had said you had a knife.”

 

Keith shot a quick glare to Lotor before speaking. “It's a family heirloom.”

 

“That is not an excuse. Give me your knife and I will keep it in my office until an adult picks it up…” he paused for a moment, a look of contemplation on his face, “Actually, for the next week.” Zarkon folded his hands, sitting down. His tall seating stature making him look as intimidating as if he were still standing. 

 

Keith sighed and pulled the knife out of his pocket, handing it gently to Principal Zarkon. “Is that all?”

 

“Yes, you may go back to class.” Keith stood up and quickly sped to where he knew Lance was. 

 

Keith stormed into 3rd period, taking his seat next to Lance, and scooching the chair closer to Lance and leaning gently onto him. Lance didn't mind, but it was odd. In all honesty, he couldn't help but wonder what happened when Keith was gone. 

 

||○●○||

 

“What's up with you two?” Hunk asked at lunch, finally breaking the light silence emitting from the group. 

 

“Nothing. Nothing happened.” Keith said flatly, his head sat on Lance's shoulder. 

 

“You’re a bit clingy-er than usual, Keith.” Mr. Shirogane said as he approached the table. 

 

Keith shrugged. “I'm tired, that's all.”

 

“Well, what happened after Lotor called you to the principal's office?” Lance finally asked. 

 

“I'll,” Keith sighed, “tell you later.” Keith closed his eyes and stayed on Lance.

 

A small group of people, who called themselves Lotor's friends, stepped over. “Oh it looks like all the Paladins are gay fags. Too bad, one of them had the chance to be cool, until we found out that he's such a fag with his two dads.” 

 

Keith sighed and flipped them off. “Back the fuck up, I think you may want to check yourself. Rumor has it a few of you Galra jerks fucked a dude with your beloved prince.”

 

They shot Keith disgusted looks, flipping him off as well before walking away. Pidge shifted in their seat quietly, sighing and fiddling with their phone. Keith growled gently and pressed himself further into Lance, further into safety. Lance sighed, nuzzling his nose into Keith, breathing his lovely scent of  old spice, cinnamon and metal. It was a comforting scent, one Keith always smelled like. Lance smiled gently into Keith’s hair, his eyes pulling closed and lulling him to a state of peace and of rest. Lance felt like this could be his life, and he wouldn’t dare to mind. The day went on in a similar fashion, Keith and Lance, as close to one as they could with everybody  begging the question, “What happened on the fourth day?” Lance would never say a word, and Keith wouldn’t even look to anyone but Lance. 

 

|| ○●○||

 

“Keith, can you tell me what happened?” Lance asked, as soon as the door was shut. 

 

“You’re still on that?” Keith sighed, fumbling down the staircase. 

 

“Yes, I want to know what Lotor did.” Lance sighed, sitting himself down on the last step and looking deeply into Keith’s eyes. 

 

“Fine.” Keith rolled his eyes and sat next to Lance on the step. “Lotor told Principal Zarkon about my mother’s dagger, and I  _ guess  _ it’s against the rules to bring family memorabilia with me every day.”

 

“Wait, how did Lotor know you carried your knife? Also, how the hell do you bring that thing everywhere and not know? Also also, it’s still a knife, knives are against the rules.” Lance’s voice was strained as his eyes portrayed a look of shock and amazement. 

 

“Well, it’s the only thing I have left of my parents. Nobody’s stopped me before.” Keith rolled his eyes and stood, walking over to the deep red beanbag that still sat where they had left it last. Keith turned slowly to sit down, his eye getting caught on a chunk of fabric he nearly recognized, woven into white laundry basket on the far side of the room. 

 

Keith walked to the laundry basket that happened to be next to a door he hadn’t quite noticed yet. He awkwardly sifted through the fabrics as if searching for something, his eyes landing on his flannel,  _ the _ flannel. Keith held it up seeing a few small few stains, but likely nothing terrible. He assumed it was likely some crap from another item that had been thrown in and that should be washed out after another couple runs through the washing machine. Once he had the flannel, Keith then brought his attention to the mysterious door. 

 

“What’s this, Lance?” Keith gestured to the door the flannel swinging along with.

 

Lance sweat for a moment, thinking Keith noticed something on his flannel, when instead Keith started to gesture towards the entrance into the study room.

 

“Uhm, well, that is my secret sex dungeon.” Lance said, his expression blank for a moment as he took a mental sigh and started to laugh. Jokes were the best thing he knew to distract himself.

 

Keith looked him dead in the eye, watching the exact moment as Lance started to crack. First his lips broke from their line, smiling in his usual bright way. Then he started laughing, so hard he had to double over and clutch his stomach. Finally, his eyes squeezed shut, hair falling near them, and his smile so huge it was either the smile or his eyes, and Lance chose the smile. Keith smiled with him, not to his own accord, but he still found himself smiling, laughing with that infectious laugh of Lance’s. Then there was a moment of calm, a moment when the laughter was over and they looked at eachother. It was like, in those few moments, the world slowed down, forced him to memorize every little detail, the number of freckles on Lance’s skin, the every wrinkle on his face. It was like the world forced Keith into a romance novel, and he happened to be the main character. 

 

“Okay, okay. What is it for real?” Keith finally said, breaking out of his little moment. 

 

“It’s actually my study room.” Lance smiled, let out a small breathy chuckle before stepping over. “But it’s become a little more than just that.” He tilted his head from side to side softly, contemplating the best name for the mystery room. 

 

Lance pushed the door open, revealing a light colored room. It had a small white desk on the wall opposite the door, a little plant on one side of the desk and a small pastel blue bookshelf on the other. The bookshelf held only a few newer looking books, as well as a small collection of common classics. Beside the bookshelf, there was a comfy chair that was a pale pink velvet a lamp standing tall next to it. The room was just so, clean. Keith was struck with the idea this was Lance’s room still, no matter how polar opposite it seemed to the rest of his room. Keith smiled briefly.

 

“Truth or dare?” Keith said as he stood in the room, taking everything in for a brief minute. 

 

“Truth I guess.” Lance shrugged.

 

“Is this your biggest secret, and if it's not, what is?” Keith brought his eyes to Lance's, a low heat burning under his cheeks. 

 

“Fuck.” Lance mumbled under his breath before answering. “This isn't, my biggest secret. I…” Lance paused for a brief moment before continuing, “I have ADHD…” 

 

Keith's face fell dead for a moment before speaking. “Really, that's your big secret?” Keith's question was met with a simple nod. “Anybody who's seen you would guess right away. Well, not that recently though.” 

 

“What?” Lance cocked his head as Keith started to walk out the door, and back towards Lance’s bed. 

 

“It’s always been kinda obvious. Until this past year. You’re a little less, I don’t know what to call it really.” Keith shrugged, plopping onto Lance’s bed, leaning until his back fell onto the mattress with a soft  _ thud _ . 

 

“Oh, I started finally taking meds for it. I’m shit at remembering every now and again, but overall I’m good.” Lance joined Keith on the bed, falling back, and turning his head to look at Keith. 

 

Keith smiled, closing his eyes. “Of course. Of course.” 

 

Lance just wanted to lean closer to Keith, to kiss those lips again. Instead he felt a heat rise in his cheeks, a likely blush dusting over his face. He snapped his head away from Keith’s gaze. “You know, I was looking at our list of things to do, and we still need to go on a date.” 

 

Keith rolled his eyes and turned to Lance. “Are you trying to ask me out then? Because that's an awfully shitty way to ask.” Keith smiled, Lance laughed. 

 

“Fine then. Truth or dare?” Keith smiled at Lance briefly. 

 

“Dare.” Keith concealed a small laugh. 

 

“I dare you to go on a date with me!” Lance started grinning, his chest shaking with laughter. 

 

“Sounds like one of the best dares you have ever come up with.” Keith smiled, Lance keeping his eyes trained on the boy.

 

To Lance, Keith looked so beautiful, he just wanted to pull him in, give him loving kisses, to hug him, but he refrained from the very urge. 

 

“One problem is, we have a little less than $20 left.” Lance looked up to the ceiling, the glow in the dark stars that were stuck to the ceiling making it seem like a cheap set for a cheesy romantic movie with a budget of a gift card to the dollar store. 

 

“Where can we go out to eat then? I'm sure you already came up with a plan for this.” Keith cracked a small smile as he kept his eyes on Lance’s face gazing at the ceiling.

 

“Well, I did think, maybe we could go to McDonalds.” Lance smiled nervously, looking up to Keith. 

 

“Sounds like a cheap first date.” Keith teased before continuing. “But we aren’t all rich, so,” Keith shot Lance a quick wink, “sounds great.” Lance beamed at Keith. 

 

There it was, another moment where Lance felt drawn to kiss Keith It was just enough that he started to lean in gently. Keith was leaning in too. The moment their lips met, it was a rush, a pulsing, pounding rush. Keith was like water, swift, dark, unpredictable, beautiful. Keith was everything Lance loved about water, everything that was calming and exhilarating. Lance loved it. 

 

||○●○||

 

McDonald's, a great place for cheap dates, questionable food, and a lack of proper service. Still, a first date for the two, both minds lost wondering if it was a real first date or not. 

 

“Keith, can we take a picture before we hope in?” Lance suggested, pulling his phone out and smiling awkwardly. 

 

“Why do you want to take a photo?” Keith cocked his head to the side as he stopped walking and looked at Lance. 

 

“Maybe that… that can be how we present out week!” Lance's eyes lit up with the thought. “Mama and Keisha have been not-so-discreetly been taking pictures all week, this could work!” He smiled and pulled Keith's hands into his own. 

 

Keith's face gave a gentle blush. “Okay, sounds like an idea.” Maybe not the best thing he could've said, but close enough. 

 

Lance smiled and pulled Keith over to a little park bench, taking a quick photo with a large tree, fountain, and McDonald's sign visible in the background. Both boys had a light blush in the photo. With a few more seconds of editing, Lance turned it into what looked like a Polaroid and hit save. His phone began to ring with a gentle buzz, the name Green Gremlin flashing onto the screen. Keith watched as Lance sighed and send off a quick reply before putting his phone back and turning to Keith. 

 

“Uh, should we go in?” Keith nodded in response to Lance's question. 

 

They walked quietly to the McDonald's, a few questionable patrons loitering around the restaurant since, after all,  it was nighttime. Keith ordered first, while Lance seemed distracted on his phone. With some nudging from Keith, Lance eventually ordered and their food was thrown out to them so they could grab a small booth, facing away from the front of the restaurant, and close to a side exit and small bathroom. Lance finally placed his phone on the table and looked up to Keith. 

 

“Did you see Pidge at all today?” Lance asked, letting out a soft sigh. 

 

“No, why?” Keith's mind brought him back to the thought of Lotor, of his dagger being gone, and of what hell he would have to endure until he graduated because of everything that had happened over the past week. 

 

Lance sighed again, starting to rest his forehead on his palm. “Do you mind if we call him?”

 

“No, I don't mind talking to them.” 

 

“Okay, come closer.” Lance smiled as he scooted over to make room for Keith to slide in closer. 

 

Once Lance determined Keith was close enough, he opened his phone and pulled to Pidge's contact, hitting the FaceTime button and leaning in a little closer to Keith. 

 

“Hey Pidge!” Lance plastered a smile on his face and waved. 

 

“Yo Lance, Keith. So I need to talk to you, face to screen.” Pidge sat up in their chair a little more, a black shirt with a beautiful finger flipped up plastered to the front, the bright red nail pointing to a small wire choker. 

 

“So, what is it? Why were you avoiding me all day? What's been happening?” Lance asked quickly, pulling the phone closer and moving it to face himself more. 

 

“Well, I thought you'd be angry, or something. I dunno. I just didn't want to be within reaching distance of either of you when you find out.” Pidge shrugged as Keith glanced to Lance, sofar this conversation creating more questions than it was answering. 

 

“What do you mean by that Pidge?” Keith said, wanting some questions answered. 

 

“I, uhh…. I may've told someone about you two, well, that and, the favor I was asked.”

 

“What favor?” Keith asked, turning his eyes back to Lance. 

 

“Nothing important Keith. Who did you tell Pidge?” Lance's hand shook a slight amount as he asked. 

 

“I didn’t tell too many people just Hunk, and Allura and Coran and Shiro, and Matt, my dad, all the teachers, everyone in robotics club, the people at Starbucks for the last 5 months, and I believe that's everyone I told…” Pidge pulled up a Starbucks coffee and took a sip out of the green straw before placing it back down again. 

 

Keith shot Lance a look of disbelief before Lance could speak. “Are you sure that’s it? Sounds like a ton of people.”

 

“Hey, everyone I tell is fairly trustworthy, like that one homeless guy I told!” Pidge shot a quick smile while trying to crawl back up the self-made hole they dug. 

 

“That’s it! No more Nintendo for you.” Lance said, pushing his chest out in some odd form of dominance that didn’t portray much anything. 

 

“Woah, no more Nintendo? Come on Lance, it isn’t  _ that _ bad, right?” Pidge shot Lance a nervous look. 

 

“Calm down Lance, I bet if we just leave this alone it will disappear. Plus, nobody really cares about what really goes on between us or else we’d have been called by more people than just Pidge and Allura.” Keith interjected, before Lance’s small fire raged onto something Keith would have to deal with the rest of the year. 

 

“Fine. But if it doesn’t go away by the end of summer, I’m blaming Pidge first. He’s the only guilty one in this scenario.” Lance slumped back and leaned to Keith. 

 

“Good, good.” Pidge said, taking another sip of their drink. 

 

“Is that all?” Keith asked sharply. 

 

“Uhmm, well, Lance, they’re cut. I think that’s all I need to say.” Pidge replied before ending the call with a quick tap. 

 

Keith looked to Lance who was now smiling lightly. “What did they say at the end there?”

 

“Nothing, nothing important.” Lance replied, trying hard to wipe the small smile he had off his face. “Truth or dare?”

 

“Wait, really? Is it even your turn?” Keith’s eyebrows furrowed with deep concentration as he traced back to their last round. 

 

“It’s yours but you always forget when it’s your turn.” Lance nudged Keith softly. 

 

“Hey, just remind me. Don’t take my turn!” Keith gave a fake pout as Lance gave him a small chuckle. 

 

“Okay, then ask!”

 

“Fine, fine, truth or dare?” Keith sighed, giving into this game. 

 

“Dare!” Lance smiled widely. 

 

Keith’s eyes lit up and his posture became slightly better as he began to speak. “I dare you to tell me what Pidge meant.”

 

“Nope, veeto. Okay, truth or dare?” Keith eyed Lance suspiciously and then thought to his answer.

 

“Alright then. I chose truth.”

 

“Agh, you always choose truth. Boring.” Lance dragged out the last word for a few moments before saying okay.

 

“What’s the question you wanna ask?”

 

“Hm, are you gay?” Lance asked casually. 

 

“What the hell man. You know the answer. This is a waste of a truth. You're so stupid sometimes.” Keith sighed and rolled his eyes before going back to take another bite of his burger. 

 

“Fine. You're gay, I'm stupid, this works.” Lance rolled his eyes, Keith laughing.

 

“Wow, what an iconic quote. I should say that at our fake fucking wedding.” Keith joked lightly. 

 

“The exact same thing or…?”

 

“I'll paraphrase.” Keith said, which earned a small chuckle from Lance. 

 

“Alright. But now it's your turn and it seems you maybe forgotten.” Lance raised an eyebrow and laughed a little.

 

“Okay okay, truth or dare tailor.” 

 

Lance perked up. “Wait, you remembered I said that? Were you even there?” 

 

“No, but Pidge keeps mentioning it to me.” Keith chuckled as Lance sighed. “Anyways, truth or dare?”

 

“Truth I guess. I’ve been getting predictable with all the dares.” 

 

“Alright, hm.” Keith thought to himself for a moment before the right question struck him. “Kiss, marry, kill. Me, Allura, Pidge.”

 

Lance furrowed his eyebrows, his lips in a thin line. “That’s not a truth, is it?”

 

“I don’t know, who cares, just answer.” Keith responded quickly. 

 

“Alright, fine then. Uhm, kiss Allura I guess, maybe kill Pidge, and marry you.” Lance replied casually.

 

“Uh, Lance, I think you have to say why you chose each?” 

 

With another sigh and a small laugh Lance began to speak. “I was thinking, we’re fake married now, and it’s going fairly well, so marry you. Then probably kiss Allura, as that would probably be the only thing I could do to her, and kill Pidge because I’m still mad he told everybody a lie.”

 

Keith tried to keep his lips from curving into a small smile at Lance’s reply. “Well, that’s good reasoning I guess.”

 

“Okay though, I’ve gotta ask why you keep bringing Allura up? It’s not really like I like her anymore or anything.” Lance sighed, subconsciously rubbing his arm in discomfort. 

 

“Oh, you don’t?” Keith’s eyebrows began to knit as Lance’s words processed in his mind.

 

“Well, I’m not so sure.” Lance sighed and rolled his head. “I’ve never been so, unsure about a girl before.” 

 

Keith’s face fell. “Okay, shouldn’t you ask me something now?”

 

“Oh yeah...:” Lance mumbled quietly. “So, wanna go out for real then?” Lance shifted uncomfortably in his seat. 

 

“I meant truth or dare Lance! You fucking idiot.” Keith said, laughing while he was trying to leave as much of Lance’s original question out. 

 

“Oh.” Lance chuckled awkwardly. “Then, uhm… Truth or dare Keith?”

 

“I choose truth.” 

 

“What would your response have been, to my original question?”

 

Keith’s face gained a new shade of red as he found it within him to keep his posture as he spoke. “I would’ve said yes.”

 

There were a few moments of silence. It wasn’t odd, or tense, it was just, empty. Neither boy knew what exactly to do, but there it was. The truth had finally come out. For the most part.


End file.
